


Appulse

by starryhoch (slytherminie)



Series: Dark Adaptation [1]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Best boy Kwon Soonyoung, Blood Drinking, Blow Jobs, Explicit Sexual Content, M/M, Mentioned Knife Play, Mentioned Terminal illness, Minor Lee Jihoon | Woozi/Yoon Jeonghan, Miscommunication, Multi, Polyamory, Vampire Jeon Wonwoo, Werewolf Kim Mingyu, kinda slice of life but with a supernatural twist, wonwoo is whipped and so is the author
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:33:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27523909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slytherminie/pseuds/starryhoch
Summary: Appulse[noun, astronomy]:The apparent very near approach of one celestial body to another, as seen from a third body; a coming into conjunction, but no eclipse or occultation occurs."Wonwoo's eyes are glued on the pair, on the way they move closer, then further apart, then closer again, the music guiding their movements. It’s like watching two celestial bodies orbiting around each other, getting so near one would think they’ll end up crashing together. But they never do, taking a step back every time Wonwoo thinks they’re about to be destroyed. It’s beautiful, and it’s maddening."
Relationships: Jeon Wonwoo/Kim Mingyu, Jeon Wonwoo/Kim Mingyu/Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi, Jeon Wonwoo/Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi, Kim Mingyu/Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi
Series: Dark Adaptation [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1831861
Comments: 11
Kudos: 50





	Appulse

**Author's Note:**

  * For [catladyjaebeom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/catladyjaebeom/gifts).



> First of all, I wanna say happy birthday to my soulmate [Allie](https://twitter.com/starrysol)!!! This is entirely dedicated to you, and you know how hard I worked on it so I truly hope that you'll have as much fun reading it as I had writing it. Thank you for walking with me, always. I love you!
> 
> To the rest of you, welcome!  
> This is the second installment in this universe, and so far the longest one. (But it won't be for long. In less than a week another story will come out - if you're reading this and you're an armycarat! Rejoice! Cause you're about to be fed!) I tried to make everything as clear as possible, but if there are things you want clarified, feel free to leave a comment and I'll be happy to reply!
> 
> For a bit more of tw see the end notes - keep in mind that they're a bit spoilery, so if you don't have any problems with the general tags I put I'm pretty sure you can skip them (they're related to the mentioned terminal illness and the blood drinking/sex tags.)
> 
> My sincerest thank you goes to [Ki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunburst) for beta reading this for me and validating me <3 you're the best <3

Autumn sucks. 

Wonwoo knows that he can't voice that particular thought out loud, not if he doesn't want Jeonghan to reply with a shrill laugh in his face and a: _"It's you who does all the sucking, Wonwoo-yah."_

In all honesty though, autumn sucks. 

Wonwoo is always cold, his hands and feet freezing during every season, but it gets worse when rain falls on his head while he tries to make the commute from the library to his apartment. He curses his own luck, annoyed that the temperature dropped so much in the last few days, and he curses Jeonghan too, just because. He's sure that his roommate did something during the day which is worth his bad mouthing, and he's likely to discover what exactly that is when he reaches home. 

Barely avoiding a puddle, he struts down the sidewalk with laser focus, eyes trained on his own boots to be sure he's not going to slip on the wet cement and hit his ass on the ground like a moron. That's mistake number one. Mistake number two is caused, as most events happening in Wonwoo's life, by the bane of his existence, Yoon Jeonghan. His phone buzzing in his pocket calls for his attention, and he barely has the time to check the caller ID and confirm it's none other than the devil himself, before he goes crashing against a pedestrian walking in the opposite direction. In a floundering of limbs, he's pretty sure he's going to slip and make a fool out of himself, but two hands grip his shoulders to steady him before a too close encounter with the pavement can occur. 

"Watch out," the person says, and Wonwoo curses his luck once again, his ears already growing pinker under the other's scrutiny. A smile so bright that it almost blinds him meets his eyes, and a rainbow-colored umbrella covers the top of his head. "Oh, it's you Wonwoo-yah!" 

"Kwon Soonyoung," Wonwoo bites out, taken aback by the wattage of Soonyoung's grin. His nose is red and his eyes disappear behind the apple of his cheeks while he pats Wonwoo's shoulders before letting him go. He looks really pleased by their random encounter. 

"Always so formal, Wonwoo-yah," Soonyoung laughs, hiding his chin below the hem of the red and black checkered scarf which is tightly wrapped around his neck. "There's no need to be so uptight,” he grins some more, his eyes squishing up in his signature happy face. 

Kwon Soonyoung is, as Wonwoo discovered over the course of the past month, always bright and intense, cheerful and sweet. His laugh is loud, just as his voice is, and he’s always ready to make fun of Wonwoo at every chance he gets. 

Also, he’s very, very hot. Don't blame him, Wonwoo has eyes, and his eyes know exactly how good Soonyoung's thighs look in skinny jeans, how sharp his gaze gets when he focuses on the pages of a book Wonwoo puts in his hands when he comes into the library to disrupt the monotony of Wonwoo’s job. So, Soonyoung is hot, and Wonwoo is just a tiny bit enamoured with the way he huffs a chuckle in the cold evening, his breath coming out in white clouds of condensation.

"I'm not uptight." 

Wonwoo doesn't pout, and Soonyoung doesn't coo at him, not at all. Maybe he pats Wonwoo's reddening cheek with his hand, but there's no one on the street to witness it in the first place. 

"It's ok Wonwoo-yah, you're cute even if you're so cold-blooded."

See, that's Wonwoo's problem. Soonyoung says stuff like that all the time, and all Wonwoo can do is gape while the shorter man beams at him, rocking on his feet back and forth. It’s maddening, how he calls Wonwoo cute with the biggest grin splitting his face in half, all while dragging him to hell and back. 

The first time Soonyoung walked inside the library Wonwoo works at, it was during a summer storm back in August. The whole day had been a literal nightmare for Wonwoo and his beloved books - people kept coming in, umbrellas and jackets leaking onto the floor and on the paper pages that Wonwoo wanted to protect at all costs. Despite his annoyance he couldn’t even yell at them to be careful, since they were inside a library. It was a very complicated and very annoying situation. 

After several hours of glaring at customers who left wet imprints on the floor, Wonwoo was pretty sure his face would remain forever set in a scowl. It was almost closing time, just a couple of students left at the study tables, when someone tumbled in, lightning illuminating their entrance like in a cheap thriller movie. The dark silhouette stood in front of the door for a minute, trying to get rid of excess water by shaking it off. They were drenched in rain and dressed in all black, a hood over their head, and when they got closer to the counter thunder roared in the distance. Wonwoo shivered. 

“Interview with the vampire,” the hooded figure said, their head still hidden from view. Concerned, Wonwoo tilted his head in confusion. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I need a copy of Interview with the vampire by Anne Rice, if it’s possible.” The guy finally showed his face, his cheeks flushed and his bright red hair plastered to his forehead. He smiled at Wonwoo. “My friend sent me on a quest.”

For a second or two Wonwoo couldn’t respond, his tongue stuck against the roof of his mouth when the stranger unzipped his jacket and his very tight, very wet shirt plastered to his chest made an appearance. Then he realized he was staring, and he was being unprofessional.

“Uh, sure,” he eloquently stated, tapping at his keyboard to check the availability of the requested book. 

The redhead drummed his fingers against the wooden surface of the counter while Wonwoo searched, one of his elbows propped on it, his cheek against the palm of his hand. 

“I’m sorry for coming in so late, I hoped the rain would stop but when I realized it wouldn’t I just ran here.”

Wonwoo shrugged. “It’s okay,” he said, smiled his customer-friendly smile, “We’re still open for half an hour.” 

Retrieving the volume from the right section and giving it to the guy took less than five minutes, and then Wonwoo had to register his name in the system to record the loan. 

“I’m not in there,” the stranger said, his grin an embarrassed one. “It’s my first time coming to the library in a while. I think my friend is registered.”

“What’s their name?”

“Lee Chan.”

Wonwoo knew Lee Chan. The kid was always around there to study on weekdays, and he was polite and cheerful. Unwanted, a real smile stretched his lips before he could stop himself.

“You seem to know him,” Chan’s friend stated, the corners of his mouth curling up. Nodding, Wonwoo registered the book to Chan’s name and gave it to the man behind the counter, enveloping it in a plastic bag before doing so. The stranger took it and bent down towards his backpack on the floor, which Wonwoo didn’t even spot until then. From an external point of view he probably looked like a creep, staring at the guy’s backside while he stuffed the book away with careful hands. When Chan’s friend zipped his bag closed and raised his gaze towards Wonwoo once again, the librarian realized he was supposed to say something. 

“He’s a very sweet boy,” he bit out after clearing his throat.

“He’s the best,” the stranger said, running his free hand through his hair to detach the wet strands from his face, a knowing grin on his lips. “I’m gonna tell him you said hi,” he paused, as if waiting for something. A beat of silence.

“Oh,” Wonwoo scratched the back of his head, trying not to look like a fool, “Jeon Wonwoo.”  
“Kwon Soonyoung,” the stranger identified himself, and Wonwoo finally had a name for the impressive set of chest muscles he would remember for the rest of his life. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Wonwoo-ssi.”

“Likewise.” 

Something passed in Soonyoung’s eyes, a glint that Wonwoo couldn’t really catch, given how fast it disappeared. Instead, a soft smile curled Soonyoung’s lips once again. 

“You’ll probably see me around,” Soonyoung affirmed, his gaze taking in his surroundings before settling down on Wonwoo, “Seems like I found something that spikes my interest.”

The words didn’t even fully register inside Wonwoo’s brain before Soonyoung was turning around to leave. “See you soon, mister librarian!” He threw over his shoulder, and Wonwoo couldn’t do much more than say goodbye and watch as his remarkable legs in leather pants guided him outside, into the storm. 

Well, it’s a known fact that Wonwoo is weak for a wicked smile and killer thighs. 

It has always been like that, even before he acquired immortality and a preference for human blood. The new predicament he’s in makes no difference, aside from the fact that he has to be really careful when approaching one night stands. That’s one of the reasons why after a full month of seeing him almost every day he still isn’t acting on his attraction to Soonyoung, another one being that he’s a fucking coward, as Jeonghan would so eloquently put. 

It’s not his fault, if anything it’s Jeonghan’s. For saving his life when Wonwoo didn’t have a choice, five years prior. For asking him if he wanted to gain pointy teeth in exchange for his mortal life, life that was about to end anyway. It was a no brainer, when the inhuman doctor asked him the question. 

“Do you want to live forever?” Jeonghan inquired, and Wonwoo snorted at that, thinking his surgeon was just being a bit of a philosopher. 

“Is this where you tell me that being remembered by my loved ones will keep me alive?” Wonwoo knew he was about to die and he didn’t appreciate the humor. Brain cancer. Not very funny, under any circumstances, especially not at twenty-three. 

Doctor Yoon was a well respected man, but Wonwoo felt like punching him in the face when he smirked at his reply, his perfect teeth showing up in a flash. 

“I’m talking about the real thing, Wonwoo-ssi. Immortality.”

The conversation that followed was the most surreal thing Wonwoo has ever experienced in his life and nonlife, and to this day he still marvels at how he believed in any of the words coming out of Jeonghan’s mouth. By the end of it, he made his decision. He wasn’t ready to leave his family and friends, and if the only way to keep on living was to be undead, then so be it. No big deal. 

It was hard to explain how exactly, after months and months of fighting a literal duel between life and death, he suddenly recovered. His parents were overjoyed, but a little wary. His brother cried for three hours straight when Jeonghan gave them the news, that the new, amazing surgical procedure that he performed had unexpected results and Wonwoo was free. Free from what, he didn’t say. Free from mortal shackles, that was it, but his family didn’t need to know. They were just happy to have their Wonwoo back. 

Of course adapting to vampire life wasn’t all fun and games. For the first two years the blood thirst was so strong Wonwoo couldn’t leave Jeonghan’s apartment without supervision. Now, almost five years since the fateful day, he just has to remember to drink a cup of O negative once a week, straight from the fridge that his maker keeps stacked all the time. 

Jeonghan won’t explain why he decided Wonwoo was the right person to turn into a vampire. To this day he’s the only one he’s ever turned. Sometimes Wonwoo thinks that it might be the fact that Jeonghan was twenty-three too when he was about to die and someone saved his life. 

“Lies,” Jeonghan says every single time, “I just couldn’t let a pretty face like yours go to waste.”

Soonyoung seems to agree with him.

“I’m not cute,” Wonwoo tells him, but Soonyoung isn’t listening anyway, his eyes following the path of a raindrop falling on top of Wonwoo’s head. Trying to brush it off with his fingers, Soonyoung smiles once again, the personification of sunshine on a windy, rainy night. Wonwoo swears that the street lamps look dimmer in comparison.

“Agree to disagree,” he sing-songs, sticking his tongue out, his hand still freeing Wonwoo’s hair from tiny water drops, softly combing through his locks and wetting his fingers in the process. “You should be going home Wonwoo-yah, I don’t want you to freeze your ass out here. Cold-blooded creatures shouldn’t be in this temperature for too long.”

Wonwoo rolls his eyes at the teasing lilt of Soonyoung’s voice and shakes his hand away from his head. 

“Fine, fine,” Soonyoung’s laugh is boisterous, takes up as much space as his personality does, “I’ll see you on Monday, Wonwoo-yah. Try not to slip and drown in a puddle.”

“If you trip and die I won’t mind,” Wonwoo replies, and then, softer, he adds: “See you on Monday, Kwon.”

If Wonwoo is extremely careful on his way home it’s not because he looks forward to seeing a certain human boy at the library on Monday afternoon, not at all. He just doesn’t want Jeonghan to be disappointed by his vampire-making skills.

**✧**

Kim Mingyu is somewhat of a menace. Not because he really is deadly, not at all. Despite him being very tall and having supernatural strength on his side, Mingyu is almost innocuous. Words to describe him would be sweet, innocent, adorable, at times a little dumb but in the endearing way. The way that makes Wonwoo coo at him every single time Mingyu bangs his head against a doorframe or drops whatever is in his hands. No, Mingyu is a big puppy who wouldn’t hurt a fly, despite him having the ability to snap Wonwoo’s neck in half, if he wanted to. Or by accident, because he’s just clumsy like that. 

What makes Mingyu dangerous isn’t the fact that he turns into a wolf every full moon. What makes him dangerous is his ability to make Wonwoo feel like his insides are being twisted inside out with just a look in his direction, to make him lose his train of thoughts every single time he grins, to make his throat close up with a barely there touch of his fingers against Wonwoo’s skin. 

Jeonghan has listened to his symptoms and diagnosed him with “love disease,” but Wonwoo thinks the word _love_ is a little too strong. Maybe he could admit to having a crush, but he wouldn’t go further than that. Also Jeonghan is in no condition to judge, since he has been making googly eyes at a human for the last six months. 

Jihoon is not a regular human, though. What he does for a living is rather peculiar, and it’s the reason why he met Jeonghan in the first place. The first time they saw each other, or better, the first time Jeonghan saw him, Jihoon was bleeding to death on an operating table, after being tossed out of a window and having a close encounter with glass shards and the hard ground two stories below. 

In Jeonghan’s words, saving his life had been a pain in the ass, hours of hard work that got repaid when Jihoon woke up two days later, grouchy and in pain, but alive. So alive he tried to kill Jeonghan when he realized his doctor was a supernatural being, using his IV to throttle the vampire with a strength Jeonghan wasn’t expecting from someone who had barely escaped death and slept it off for two days. 

It turned out that Jihoon was some sort of monster hunter, and his almost-mortal wound was caused by a fight with a very thirsty vampire who had killed fifteen innocent people. Seeing another monster, even though Jeonghan was not thirsty or dangerous, triggered his flight or fight instinct, and the doctor had to sedate him before he started bleeding again, thus making Jeonghan’s hours of hard work useless. 

The fact that Jeonghan was awestruck by the man that almost killed him isn’t very surprising in Wonwoo’s opinion. He is kind of fucked up that way. What was unexpected was his decision to get a gym membership (and drag Wonwoo with him, of course) just so he could meet Jihoon once again. 

When Jeonghan told him he wanted to go to the gym, Wonwoo thought he meant the one downstairs. They have a fully equipped gym room in the basement of their apartment building, one that Jeonghan never used before, anyway. 

“No, not downstairs.” Jeonghan’s smile was big, verging towards the crazy side. “I discovered there’s a very hot boxing instructor in the gym nearby.” There was a twinkle in Jeonghan’s eyes that should have told Wonwoo something was up, but instead of questioning it the younger decided to follow him. It turned out that Jihoon had a double job, boxing teacher by day and monster hunter by night. 

“That’s him?” Wonwoo incredulously asked the first time they met the human at the gym, his eyes trained on the rather short man with black hair and an undercut who was lifting weights on the other side of the room. The way Jeonghan’s face lit up in recognition was enough of an answer, and the older vampire threw one of his hands in the air to wave at the guy. Jihoon seemed to do a double take before deciding to ignore Jeonghan, a scowl setting on his face before he turned the other way.

Jeonghan, sadly, is nothing if not persistent. They spent the following two weeks making trips to the gym every single day, Wonwoo being dragged against his will. The younger vampire tried at least to squeeze in some exercise, running on the treadmill while listening to podcasts, but Jeonghan just sat on machines close enough to the ones Jihoon was using in order to stare at the man unabashedly. It was unclear how the hunter didn’t decide to snap his neck in half, but maybe the fact that the gym was often packed was one of the reasons why. 

It was one of those days during which Jeonghan was persistently standing next to the machines Jihoon was using and trying to make small talk with him, while the human stared into space and clearly restrained himself from turning around and punching him. To be fair, Wonwoo couldn’t deny that Jihoon was rather attractive, but Jeonghan didn’t have even a single drop of shame, staring at his exposed biceps flexing and trying to take a peek at his abs through the low lateral cuts of his tank top. Looking at them from afar, Wonwoo noticed that they made quite the pair, sharp weapons ready to kill that would probably soften around each other if given the chance. He was chuckling to himself about the poetic metaphor he just came up with when the unexpected happened.

In Wonwoo’s defense, he is still to this day new to his so-called “superpowers,” and Jeonghan has never been very helpful, hardly explaining anything to him. He said that discovering his new _gifts_ would be fun, and that he should enjoy them without him spoiling anything. Wonwoo thinks that he’s just a brat, and a bullshitter. 

He was slowly running on the treadmill, listening to music while amusedly staring at Jeonghan’s weak attempts at a conversation with Jihoon, when he felt the air shift around him. A peculiar smell made his nose scrunch up, his senses on alert, the hair at the back of his neck rising. It was nothing new; he lives in an apartment building full of supernatural beings, and he’s grown familiar with the way werewolves’ scent makes his system go haywire. Jeonghan explained that it’s a mechanical reaction, since they’ve been enemies for centuries. 

Someone walked on the treadmill next to his own, someone who clearly knew _what_ Wonwoo was. Someone who was making Wonwoo’s attention divert from the podcast he was listening to because all he could focus on was their presence at his side. 

He was hellbent on ignoring the person setting up the pace of the machine next to him, his eyes trained forward, on Jeonghan smiling while a suspicious red glow took over Jihoon’s cheeks. Was the hunter blushing? There was a cunning glint in Jeonghan’s eyes that Wonwoo was able to spot even from a distance, and when their gazes met the older vampire winked at Wonwoo. Then, his focus shifted to Wonwoo’s left, to the person lightly jogging beside him.

“What the fuck,” Wonwoo was sure he read on his lips, watching as Jeonghan’s mouth fell open in surprise. Curious, Wonwoo threw a quick glance to his left, taking in for a brief second the tall man exercising next to him. It wasn’t fast enough to see his face, and Wonwoo didn’t want to stare like a creep, but what he saw was enough to match Jeonghan’s shocked face. 

There were toned biceps, a tight black shirt stretched over them, dark skin glistening with sweat. Wonwoo had been already very aware of the body next to him, but after that his senses heightened even more, his eyes itching to go back and take a better look at the stranger who was speeding up. If he listened closely, he could hear his grunts through the voices in his earphones, deep and gruff. 

When he turned back around Jeonghan wasn't looking towards them anymore, following Jihoon to another part of the gym. Before disappearing into an adjacent room, he threw one last glance at Wonwoo and mouthed something the younger couldn’t decipher. To be honest, he believed he was better that way. 

The person next to him was running at full speed, and Wonwoo could feel the puffs of air coming out of his mouth, the sound of his shoes hitting the treadmill. He slowed his own machine down to a brisk walk before risking another peek to the side. Taking an unnecessary breath in, he turned his head around just enough to see more of the tall, athletic man exercising at his side. He was caught by surprise when he found out the stranger was already looking at him, their eyes meeting. Panic made him stumble.

It would have been embarrassing if not for his fast reflexes making him regain his footing in time, before he could fall on his ass and off the treadmill. The stranger was chuckling when Wonwoo’s eyes ended up on him once again, hiding his face behind one of his hands to stifle his amusement. Wonwoo’s gaze slipped down from the man’s face to his curled up bicep straining his shirt. He almost tripped once again. 

It took the guy five more minutes to finish his cardio training, and when he did he hopped off the machine and got closer to Wonwoo, pressing the stop button on Wonwoo’s treadmill and smiling unabashedly at him. 

“Can you help me out with the bench press?” The man asked as Wonwoo stopped walking, stepping down from the machine and following the stranger in a daze. “I’m Kim Mingyu,” he introduced himself, flashing a toothy grin at Wonwoo as he stuck weights on the metal barrel for him to lift. “I think I’ve seen you working at the library nearby, am I right?”

Unable to utter a single word, Wonwoo nodded his head and stared as Mingyu laid back on the bench and started his exercise, his arms stretching up and down, sweat slowly forming at his hairline and falling in little droplets down his forehead as soft grunts came out of his mouth. Mesmerized, Wonwoo almost missed his cue to help him put the weights down, rushing at the last second to avoid looking like a moron. 

“You’re right, I work at the library. I don’t remember seeing you around, though,” Wonwoo finally replied, having regained the ability to speak once Mingyu’s muscles stopped working. How exactly he had missed seeing this guy, Wonwoo wasn’t sure. If anything, he was pretty sure that he would have been dreaming about him every single day of his life he had ever caught a glimpse of him.

“Oh, I saw you there just once when I came to pick up a friend of mine,” Mingyu smiled, using the hem of his shirt to dab at the sweat collecting below his chin. A quick flash of his abs as the fabric left them exposed made Wonwoo’s head spin, the need to sit down next to Mingyu on the bench almost too compelling. He resisted it, feeling far too pathetic. 

“Oh,” was all Wonwoo could mutter, his eyes fixed over the sliver of tan skin appearing between the hem of Mingyu’s sweatpants and his shirt. When all his clothes got back to their rightful place, Wonwoo’s gaze immediately snapped up to Mingyu’s face. “I see,” he oh-so-eloquently concluded. Mingyu cocked his head to the side, his grin showing off the pointy edges of his canines. Cute, Wonwoo’s mind provided. 

“You didn’t tell me your name, mister librarian.”

“Jeon Wonwoo.”

“Well, Wonwoo-ssi,” Mingyu stood up at that, smile never slipping off his face as he gestured for Wonwoo to take his place on the bench press. “Now that I personally know the librarian I’ll make sure to come by there more often.” 

If Wonwoo had had more blood in his system, he was pretty sure he would have been blushing. He was lucky that he postponed his weekly feeding hour to later that day, so Mingyu couldn’t see how affected he was by the whole exchange. Instead of giving him any kind of reply, Wonwoo made sure the weights weren’t too much and lied down on the bench, focusing on his workout instead of the handsome guy staring at him. It was definitely hard. 

After their first encounter, Wonwoo grows accustomed to seeing Mingyu around. He meets the young werewolf all the time: at the gym, at the library, at the cafè just around the corner from his workplace. 

It took Wonwoo some weeks to get used to Mingyu, to the way the younger fills up the space he’s in - both physically and with his wits and contagious laugh. He’s not sure how and why, but in no time he finds himself gravitating around the werewolf, enjoying the distraction that he provides whenever he drops by at the library to bring him some home-cooked meals that are completely unnecessary for Wonwoo.

“I know you don’t need to eat,” Mingyu tells him, pouting when Wonwoo is picking his carefully packed lunch aside with his chopsticks, “But I want you to tell me if it’s any good. It’s a new recipe.”

Despite himself, Wonwoo ends up always eating the food Mingyu brings around during his lunch breaks. Whatever he cooks, it is far too delicious every single time, even for Wonwoo’s dead taste buds. 

Mingyu waits patiently while Wonwoo savours his dishes, fingers tangled together under his chin while he stares at him in silence. There’s no way Wonwoo would ever be able to tell him anything different from: “It’s delicious!”, because it is and because he doesn’t want to upset him. His words make Mingyu bounce in his seat, which is far too cute for Wonwo’s own good. The need to reach out and put a hand over Mingyu’s head gets stronger each time his pointy teeth show up with the force of his smile. 

So, Kim Mingyu is a menace for Wonwoo’s well being mostly because he makes his almost-dead heart beat a bit faster, which in Jeonghan’s professional experience “shouldn't be possible, I think you’re being just a bit too overdramatic.” Wonwoo swears that’s exactly what happens whenever Mingyu remembers to bring him a cup of his favourite tea when he swings by the library for one of his solitary study sessions - which always end up with him curling up on the floor next to Wonwoo’s feet with a book in his hand, hidden from view from the rest of the customers. 

Sometimes Wonwoo asks him if he doesn’t have any friends to hang out with, and all Mingyu does in response is shrugging his shoulders while telling him he has plenty of friends, yet he wants to spend time with _him_. There’s no way to actually tell if Wonwoo blushes at the words. That’s a small victory, at least. 

**✧**

Chan has a knowing little smirk on his face as he sits alone at a round table in a far away corner of the library, sending glances in Wonwoo’s direction ever so often. Wonwoo is doing his best to ignore him and his very pointed staring. 

In all honesty, pretending he can’t see Chan isn’t as hard as it should be, given that the boy hasn’t a single subtle bone in his body. What makes it easy is the current number one distraction in Wonwoo’s life: Kwon Soonyoung. 

Today Soonyoung is wearing a cropped sweater and loose fitting, distressed light jeans. There’s so much of his skin showing that Wonwoo can’t help but wonder how he’s not freezing to death. Not that he doesn’t appreciate the view, he’s just concerned for his well-being. 

While Chan works on his assignment, Soonyoung has made it his daily mission to distract Wonwoo from his job - actually, that’s an occurrence that has been repeating more often than not in the last few weeks. Every time he’s around, Soonyoung spends most of his time draped over the counter, smiling sweetly at Wonwoo. It’s unnerving. It makes Wonwoo slow, mistakes accumulating while Soonyoung chuckles at his incompetence. 

Soonyoung’s energy is completely different from Mingyu’s. Where the werewolf is quiet, all soft edges and warm smiles, the human boy is a ball of compressed enthusiasm in a very tight space. There’s something about Soonyoung that Wonwoo hasn’t been able to place yet, a spark he can’t quite understand. It lights up his eyes at times, but disappears too fast, leaving Wonwoo to wonder if he had just imagined it.

Soonyoung drapes himself further over the counter, stretching his arm out to reach for Wonwoo’s favourite pen. The vampire slaps his grubby fingers away. 

“Stay put,” Wonwoo whispers to him, but Soonyoung is nothing if not stubborn. Before he can stop him again, the pen is in his hand and he’s twirling it in his hold, grinning when Wonwoo glares at him. “Don’t you have anything better to do?” Wonwoo asks him, but the redhead shakes his head no. 

“I like hanging out with you,” he tells Wonwoo, showing off a row of rounded teeth. “Getting you all worked up is my favourite pastime.”

Pretending not to hear him does nothing to stop Soonyoung’s next assault, his focus shifting to trying to steal Wonwoo’s phone from his hands. This time around, Wonwoo doesn’t let him win. “Chan is looking for you,” he tries, but Soonyoung doesn’t even turn back towards his friend, grin stretching his lips as he perches further up on the desk. In this position his sweater bunches up, and Wonwoo can see a stretch of naked skin on his back. It’s _very_ distracting.

“Chan has an assignment due tomorrow, and no time to play with me.” Soonyoung’s bottom lip sticks out, his eyes going wide. Wonwoo would say it doesn’t affect him, but it would be a lie. 

“I don’t have time to play with you either.”

“There’s literally no one in here, Wonwoo-yah.”

And well, Soonyoung isn’t wrong. It’s a slow afternoon, just the two of them, Chan, and a couple of high schoolers that are doing a school project in the furthest corner of the library. Their voices sometimes get too loud, yet Wonwoo doesn’t have the heart to shush them, given how noisy Soonyoung is.

“That doesn’t mean I don’t have work to do.”

If possible, Soonyoung’s eyes get even bigger, pleading. Wonwoo sighs. 

“Fine, you can come sit next to me,” he concedes. When Soonyoung is about to jump over the counter, he puts his forefinger up. “But you have to promise you’ll let me work in peace.”

Soonyoung rolls his eyes. “You’re so _boring_ ,” he says, dragging the vocals. “I’ll be a good boy, don’t worry.”

Wonwoo pretends the words don’t have any effect over him, pretends he’s not hyper aware of the way Soonyoung slips in the empty chair next to him and immediately scoots closer, his head falling down to rest over Wonwoo’s shoulder as he taps away at the keyboard. It’s all a facade, because all Wonwoo can focus on is the air going in and out of Soonyoung’s nose, tickling the skin of his neck. To avoid doing something stupid - like craning his neck and let his cheek rest over the top of Soonyoung’s head, for example - Wonwoo keeps working on the task at hand, tries to make sense of the long rows of book titles he has to sort out. 

He’s successful for a short while. Then, out of nowhere, one of Soonyoung’s hands ends up resting comfortably over Wonwoo’s thigh, squeezing it just above his knee to reclaim his attention and making him jump up in surprise. The keysmash blinking at him on the screen is a testament to his inability in keeping his focus steady with Soonyoung around. 

“What?” Wonwoo chokes out, but Soonyoung doesn’t reply, just kneads the flesh of Wonwoo’s thigh between his fingers, his nails raking over the fabric of his pants in the process. Soonyoung is still resting his head over Wonwoo’s shoulder, but if Wonwoo would be able to see his face he’s pretty sure he would find out that there’s a wicked smile on his lips. Before he can think better of it, Wonwoo’s hand moves from where it was clutching the mouse to trap Soonyoung’s digits between his own. “What do you want?” He asks again, shaking his chest a bit as to jostle Soonyoung away. The motion just makes him cling to Wonwoo’s frame harder.

“Nothing,” Soonyoung whispers back, trying to free himself from Wonwoo’s hold. When he realizes he’s not going to win this battle, he retorts to foul play. His teeth sink into Wonwoo’s shoulder over the fabric of his sweater. It doesn’t hurt, but it’s distracting enough that Wonwoo lets go of his hand to clutch Soonyoung’s hair between his fingers instead, trying to detach him with a gentle pull. It doesn’t work.

“Soonyoung-ah!” Wonwoo hisses, “Let me go!” 

Soonyoung tries to reply with his mouth full of Wonwoo’s clothes, which turns his words into an incomprehensible mumble. Wonwoo’s fingers tug at his scalp until Soonyoung finally detaches his teeth, leaving wet imprints of them over Wonwoo’s sweater. It should be disgusting, but Wonwoo is transfixed by the string of saliva connecting Soonyoung’s bottom lip to the fabric covering his shoulder. All it takes for him to snap out of it is Soonyoung’s obnoxious laugh. 

“Sorry, you looked like you needed a bit of a thrill,” he says through fits of giggles that have Chan looking over at them with an exasperated light in his eyes that Wonwoo can spot even from so far away, “Today your job looks more boring than usual.” 

“I was doing _fine_ ,” Wonwoo bites back. Another soft tug at Soonyoung’s hair gets him a whine in return so high in pitch that Wonwoo is pretty sure people heard it from outside the building. Chan glares at them, shushing them with a finger pressed against his lips. 

“I’m supposed to be the one that shushes others.” The hold he has on Soonyoung gets released, and the redhead promptly glues himself back against Wonwoo’s side, his cheek squished against Wonwoo’s shoulder while one of his arms sneaks behind his back. “Let me rest for a bit. You’re comfy,” Soonyoung whines, rubbing his face against Wonwoo’s sweater like a big, annoying cat would do. 

“Fine,” Wonwoo concedes, his hands flying back over the keyboard. Deciding to ignore Soonyoung altogether was maybe the best course of action since the beginning, but it’s not easy to focus with the warmth of his whole body pressing against Wonwoo’s. The smell of Soonyoung’s shampoo keeps distracting him, and he’s lucky he drank a big cup of fresh blood the previous night, or concentrating would be even harder with Soonyoung’s thumping pulse so close to his mouth. The silence finally settles down inside the library; the only sounds Wonwoo is aware of are Soonyoung’s breath and the way he hums low in his throat every few minutes, a sort of purring that would be very weird if it wasn’t Soonyoung doing it. In some way, it just makes sense.

By the time Wonwoo’s shift is almost over, Soonyoung has fallen asleep on his shoulder, the soft puffs of air coming out of his mouth slowing down together with the beating of his heart. It’s around closing time and the teenagers have disappeared at least two hours prior. The only people there are Wonwoo, Soonyoung, and Chan, who’s packing his stuff up with meticulous precision.

“Can you believe the audacity of this hyung?” Chan asks in a whisper when he’s done picking up his stuff, pointing his thumb towards Soonyoung. “I asked him to help with my research and he said he’d gladly give me a hand. I should have known he wanted to come just to spend time with you.”

Wonwoo is sure there’s a faint blush on the apple of his cheeks, but he can’t do much about it: the knowing glint in Chan’s eyes is impossible to escape. 

“Do you want to wake him up so you can go home together?”

The younger shakes his head no. “It’s ok, I’ll wait for him back there. I’m sure he’ll be happier to spend some more time with you.” 

It’s with a wink that Chan disappears, waving his hand from behind the glass doors once he’s outside in the cold. Wonwoo has some more cataloguing to do, and he doesn’t actually mind the weight of Soonyoung’s pretty little head on him. 

Dusk has fallen outside when Wonwoo finally realizes it’s time for him to close up the library. Just like he felt it in his bones, Soonyoung comes to his senses, the arm around Wonwoo’s middle squeezing his hips lightly before letting him go. The redhead cracks his necks as he sits up, stretching himself like a lazy kitten after a very satisfying nap. Wonwoo has his eyes on him all the time, can’t fight the smile that curls up the corners of his lips.

“Did you rest well, sleeping beauty?”

Soonyoung stifles a yawn with the back of his hand. “I did, actually. Best sleep of the last century.” 

Wonwoo’s chuckle echoes through the empty rows of bookshelves, bouncing back and forth. There’s a pretty grin on Soonyoung's lips when his eyes finally focus on Wonwoo, alert despite the crease left on his cheek by Wonwoo’s sweater. 

“I’m sure it was.” Wonwoo turns back to the computer in order to turn it off. “Are you hungry? We can grab a bite on our way home.”

Another yawn. “Actually, I am quite hungry,” Soonyoung’s stomach rumbles, a testament to his words. They both laugh. “Did you have something specific in mind?”

Wonwoo doesn’t actually need to eat anything at all, but he’ll gladly join Soonyoung for a meal. “No, you can choose whatever strikes your fancy.”

“I think I’m craving something spicy,” Soonyoung reasons, tapping a finger against his bottom lip. “We can choose once you’re out of here,” he concludes, spinning once on the chair he’s still sitting on before springing to his feet. “Race you to the exit!”

A jump over the counter and he’s off towards the glass doors, sleepiness all gone from his body in less than twenty seconds. Wonwoo marvels at his speed, but doesn’t even try to follow. He still needs to put a couple of books in order before leaving. 

“You’re paying for dinner!” Soonyoung calls over his shoulder once his palm touches the door’s handle. Wonwoo shrugs his shoulders. “That’s fine with me!”

“I will make sure to eat a lot! Thank you, Wonwoo-ssi!” Soonyoung is clearly teasing him, yet Wonwoo can’t find himself caring. 

Instead of playing along, he sends a double thumbs up to Soonyoung. “You’re welcome, Kwon! Make sure you eat as much as you can!”

Even from the distance, Wonwoo can spot the bright smile on Soonyoung’s face and the way his eyes light up with the force of it. It makes the blood in his veins thrum a bit faster. 

**✧**

Mingyu is sitting in front of Wonwoo, folded up on a chair in a way that makes him seem so tiny Wonwoo is convinced the werewolf could comfortably fit in his pocket. It takes all his willpower to avoid squealing at the sight, to stop himself from reaching over and combing his hair away from his eyes. The werewolf has a book about _the basics of Chemistry in baking_ between his hands, something Wonwoo brought over from the library because he thought Mingyu would find it interesting. The appreciative smile he received back was enough of a sign that he was right. 

They’re sitting together in the cafè closest to the library. It was just sheer luck that made Wonwoo raise his gaze towards the window wall while he passed by on his way home; he spotted Mingyu almost immediately, seated as he was at the table closest to the window, apparently alone. The younger was busy scrolling through his phone, his side profile unmistakable even if he had his chin propped up on his free hand. Knocking on the glass, Wonwoo chuckled when Mingyu recoiled. Upon seeing him, Mingyu’s face lit up with the force of his smile, gesturing for Wonwoo to come in and sit with him. So there they are now, Mingyu excitedly browsing through the book Wonwoo oh-so-casually slipped into his bag, not at all hoping that he would see Mingyu around. 

“This is so cool,” Mingyu breathes out, his cup of Americano completely forgotten, “Thank you so much, hyung!” 

Wonwoo’s mouth morphs into a grin to mirror Mingyu’s delighted expression, his hands tight around a warm mug of tea. It’s past the middle of September, days are getting shorter and Wonwoo isn’t enjoying the Autumn weather even one single bit. He’s thankful for Mingyu’s sunny smile and for the cozy atmosphere of the cafè. 

Instead of replying, Wonwoo takes a sip of his drink and lets Mingyu marvel at the knowledge pouring from the pages. Content to sit there in silence, Wonwoo almost recoils when Mingyu’s phone loudly pings, informing him of an incoming message. Mingyu seems to be equally disrupted, because he almost slams the book on the table in his haste to get his hands on the device. While he retrieves it, the phone emits tiny beeps several different times.

When he checks the incoming message, a frown appears on his face, his mouth curling into a pout. 

“What’s up?” Wonwoo asks, curiosity eating at him. Before replying, Mingyu taps on the screen of his phone and then blocks it, visibly annoyed if the way his eyebrows are drawn together is anything to go by. 

“My whole pack just ditched me,” he whines, “Can you believe? They all have better things to do than having dinner with me. I even said I would cook for them!” 

Wonwoo reigns in the impulse to pat Mingyu’s head like he would with a puppy, but can’t help cooing at him. “I’m sorry to hear that.” Then, because he seems to be devoid of any brain-to-mouth filter when it comes to Kim Mingyu, he adds: “Do you want to come over at my place? Jeonghan is working the night shift and I’m alone as well.”

In any other situation, with any other person - Wonwoo suddenly thinks of Soonyoung, of a sharp smile and never-ending teasing - that kind of proposition would make the air at least awkward, at most charged with _other_ intentions. In Mingyu’s case, the werewolf’s frown just melts away to be replaced by a hopeful expression. 

“Can I cook?” Mingyu demands, his hands gripping the edge of the table as if he was trying to reign himself from jumping over it and crushing Wonwoo in a hug. Wonwoo just nods his head as an answer, quietly enjoying the way Mingyu’s excitement pours out of him in the form of the brightest smile of the evening. 

“You won’t regret it!” The younger says, almost bouncing in his seat in excitement, looking ready to bolt out of his seat any minute. “I’ll make sure to make you the best dinner your un-dead taste buds have tasted so far.”

Seeing Mingyu in his kitchen is weird. Seeing Mingyu in any other setting that isn’t the library, the gym or the cafè is definitely unsletting. It’s like Wonwoo is convinced that Mingyu is just a figment of his imagination that can inhabit only certain places. 

Yet Mingyu is very real, and so is the smell of the _jap chae_ he’s cooking. There are few ingredients in Wonwoo and Jeonghan’s kitchen - mostly because they don’t really need to eat, and also because both of them forgot to pick up any groceries during the week. Mingyu isn’t put off by the emptiness of the fridge, and it takes him less than a minute to decide what to cook. 

It’s like watching a professional at work, a bit mesmerizing in the way Mingyu moves around knives and pans and pots. Despite his clumsy nature, he seems very confident in his abilities in the kitchen, and Wonwoo can’t help but marvel at the way he looks completely at ease in a space he’s never worked in before. In no time at all, dinner is ready and they’re sitting down to eat it on Jeonghan’s expensive sofa, with a movie in the background to keep them company. 

As promised, the food is outstanding. Wonwoo puts down his chopsticks to clap his hands, a grin on his face when Mingyu hides his blushing face behind his hands, whining at him to stop teasing. 

“I’m not teasing, this is the best dish I’ve eaten in a very long time.”

Mingyu doesn’t say anything back, just fills his mouth with noodles. His cheeks are crimson red, just like the tips of his ears. Wonwoo finds him endearingly cute. 

By the time their bellies are full - especially Mingyu’s, since Wonwoo let him eat most of the meal - their attention gets stolen by the movie playing on the TV screen, something very cheesy, full of love confessions and twists and turns. 

“Hyung,” Mingyu calls for him, and Wonwoo finds it easy to move his eyes away from the screen to fix them on him, finding him curled up in a ball at his side, arms around his legs and chin propped up on his knees. “Have you ever been in love?”

The question takes him by surprise, but it’s an easy one to answer. 

“I have,” he says, unable to look the younger in the eyes. It feels like a billion years before, like a different life. In a certain way, it is. “It was before I got turned, before I discovered I was going to die.”

“Do they know you survived?”

Wonwoo shakes his head. “We broke up way before anything happened to me, and she moved to another country. We haven’t been in touch.” Sometimes he wonders if she’s alright, if she’s living well. If she’s happier than when they were together. He hopes she is.

“What is it like?” Mingyu is staring at the TV, his lower lip jutting out in a pout. There’s a strand of his hair that is sticking up in a weird direction, so Wonwoo reaches his hand out to fix it. The younger turns his face towards him, eyes glowing in the dim lights.

“What?” Wonwoo croaks out, his fingers still between soft, dark curls. Mingyu’s eyes fall shut, his eyelashes casting shadows over the apple of his cheeks. 

“Being in love.”

“It’s great, but it’s also the worst.”

They share a chuckle in the quietness of the living room, their words barely drowning out the sounds coming from the TV. 

“It’s been so long ago, I almost forgot what it feels like.”

At that, Mingyu looks at him, a small smile on his lips. “You’re not that old,” he reminds him, which makes Wonwoo laugh once again. That’s true, but most of his life before the big change feels so far away and out of touch that Wonwoo sometimes wonders if he ever lived it at all. 

“Have you?”

Mingyu shakes his head as Wonwoo’s fingers leave his scalp. The pout is back on his face. 

“Never.”

“You’re telling me you’ve never been in a relationship?” Wonwoo knows he sounds disbelieving, but he can’t help it: Mingyu has the looks of a model and the sweetest personality ever, there’s no conceivable way that people aren’t lining up to date him.

“That’s not what I said,” Mingyu points out, “I’ve been on dates and I’ve even been in a relationship with a guy for quite some time when I was in high school, but I never felt the sparks, you know?”

“I guess?” Wonwoo is sincere when he says he doesn’t remember how being in love feels like, but he thinks he understands what the younger one means. There are supposed to be butterflies in your stomach and fireworks inside your chest, or something like that. “I’m sure you’ll find someone, Mingyu-yah.”

The werewolf is again curled up on himself, his gaze trained on the main leads kissing on the TV screen. There’s an emotion on his face that Wonwoo can’t give a name to, but that makes him want to reach out to put his arms around him, to give him some comfort. Instead, he just pats his shoulder once. “Do you want dessert? I think I have some ice cream in the freezer. It’s Jeonghan’s but we don’t need to tell him.”

Mingyu nods his head, giving Wonwoo the satisfaction of a tiny smile. “I’d love some yogurt ice cream.” 

“I’ll see what we have.”

It pulls at Wonwoo’s heartstrings watching Mingyu devour the scoops of ice cream he put in a cup for him - makes him want to fill it more and more and more to keep hearing the content little sighs coming out of his mouth. 

By the time Mingyu is heading home, his grin seems definitely brighter. He gives Wonwoo a hug as a goodbye; its warmth lingers over Wonwoo’s skin all the way through the night, sticking to the surface of his cold body and keeping him company until the following morning. 

**✧**

Wonwoo doesn’t want to be here. The music is loud, the flashing lights are hurting his eyes and the drink in his hand is just watered down orange juice with maybe a teaspoon of vodka. Not that alcohol would do much to him in the first place, but at least tasting it would make the night just a tiny bit better, or so he thinks. He glares as yet another person comes up to the booth he’s sitting at with Soonyoung, the shorter man speaking about one of the girls in his yoga class falling on her ass while trying to execute some convoluted pose and being so embarrassed that she flew the room. 

Apparently, Soonyoung is unaware of the swarm of people floating towards their table, their eyes trained on the way his hands move while he recounts his story, and Wonwoo has been sending death threats through his eyes at anyone who comes too close. It’s not been a very entertaining night so far, and he doesn’t understand how Soonyoung managed to convince him to go out in the first place when all he wanted to do was stay at home and read, or sleep. Or both. 

Instead, he’s baring his teeth at an unsuspecting brunette who is licking her lips while staring at Soonyoung’s ass. He can relate, that’s for sure, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to let her get her hands on him. 

To say that Wonwoo is distracted is an understatement, so when someone touches his shoulder, he jumps in the air at the contact. And there Kim Mingyu is, looking at him with his eyebrows high in confusion, a kicked puppy expression taking over his face. His hair is styled up and away from his forehead, and Wonwoo has trouble remembering where he is and what is going on.

“Hyung!” Mingyu excitedly exclaims after Wonwoo recovers a little and smiles at him, “I didn’t know you were going out tonight!” 

“Last minute plans,” Wonwoo raises his voice to be heard over the thumping of the bass, and Mingyu gets closer to hear him better, nodding along to the music. For a moment, Wonwoo forgets why he’s so annoyed, chatting with Mingyu and relishing in the toothy smile the younger one gives him. 

Then, “Hey, who’s your friend?” comes out of Mingyu’s mouth, and suddenly Wonwoo remembers what he has been doing the whole night. He turns around to find out that Soonyoung is speaking with a tall, blonde girl in a very short red dress. Damn. 

“That’s Soonyoung,” Wonwoo explains, as said man waves at the girl, who’s already retreating towards the dancefloor. “Soonyoung, this is Mingyu,” he then shouts, and Mingyu extends his hand towards the redhead, grinning widely. 

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Wonwoo talks a lot about you!” Mingyu affirms, and Wonwoo considers kicking him in the shin, but Soonyoung just chuckles, answering: “Likewise!” 

That’s all he says, before his eyes go out towards the mass of people dancing in the middle of the room, to where the blondie is obviously waiting for him. 

“If none of you is interested in dancing, I’ll just go over to that boring woman,” the shorter of the trio exhales, pouting a little in Wonwoo’s direction. 

“This is really not my scene,” he points out, and Soonyoung pouts harder. “Mingyu-ssi? Would you dance with me?” 

Mingyu glances quickly at Wonwoo, searching, and then he smiles. “Go ahead, I’ll be right behind you.”

“I like your friend, Wonwoo-yah,” Soonyoung throws over his shoulder, walking away with a confident strut. Wonwoo sighs. 

“Is it ok?” Mingyu asks, cocking his head to the side in a perfect replica of a curious dog. Shrugging, Wonwoo gestures at him to go ahead. 

"Be my guest."

Mingyu has a weird light in his eyes when he states: "I didn't think you'd be into that," jerking his head in the direction of the dancefloor. 

"I'm not into _that_ ," Wonwoo replies, startled by the implications in Mingyu's voice, "And even if I was, I don't see the problem."

"No problems at all, hyung." Mingyu's smile is sharp, his canines showing. 

"It seems to me you're into _that,_ too," Wonwoo points out, since Mingyu's eyes keep wandering towards where Soonyoung is tapping his foot on the floor, impatient as usual. Grin growing wider, Mingyu looks back at Wonwoo. 

"I wasn't judging," he points out, and then takes yet another step towards Wonwoo, lowering his head to whisper in his ear, "You have good taste." 

“Well, go easy on him," Wonwoo’s eyebrows are drawn together in concern, “He probably can’t keep up with you.”

Mingyu's laugh is loud, his eyes sparkling when he turns around and leaves Wonwoo to sit alone in his corner. Maybe he should be mad, or at least a little bit annoyed, but all he feels is a weird emptiness in his stomach when he sees Mingyu walking up to Soonyoung and taking his hand to guide him through the bodies dancing to the music. 

He shouldn't be able to spot them, surrounded as they are by the crowd, but it's with an astounding clarity that he sees them coming together. They’re very different, Soonyoung and Mingyu. Supposedly they shouldn’t work well together, opposites that are too different to attract, and yet. 

And yet they move as one, when Soonyoung slides his arms around Mingyu’s neck and brings him closer, their faces just a breath apart, their bodies molding into one. Wonwoo feels electricity biting the surface of his skin, feels Mingyu’s hands on Soonyoung’s hips as they were on his own, feels the warmth of them, their roughness, their strength.

They move to a rhythm Wonwoo can’t feel anymore, his head buzzing with static noise while he stares at them, their limbs moving in sync. Soonyoung twirls around in Mingyu’s arms, throws his head back and rests it against Mingyu’s shoulder, lets the younger nose at the skin of his neck. The knot in Wonwoo’s throat grows tighter. 

His eyes are glued on the pair, on the way they move closer, then further apart, then closer again, the music guiding their movements. It’s like watching two celestial bodies, orbiting around each other, getting so near one would think they’ll end up crashing together. But they never do, taking a step back every time Wonwoo thinks they’re about to be destroyed. It’s beautiful, and it’s maddening. 

Soonyoung turns around again, tiptoes to say something in Mingyu’s ear, and the taller one throws his head back in laughter, his hands sliding lower on Soonyoung’s back. There’s a buzz inside Wonwoo’s veins, something he can’t quite put his finger on, the need to get up suddenly filling him. One of Soonyoung’s hands ends up on the side of Mingyu’s neck, and the brunette’s eyes flutter closed at the contact, an itch in his breath Wonwoo can see even from the distance. 

By the time the song ends and turns into something slower, Wonwoo finds himself out of breath, as if he was the one dancing with them. Mingyu makes his way back to the booth, probably feeling guilty for having abandoned his hyung on his own and having stolen his friend. Sweat clings to his skin, making him glow, and Wonwoo has to gulp down words he’s not supposed to be saying. Instead he grins at Mingyu when the taller man slides back to his side, Soonyoung having disappeared somewhere in the middle of the crowd.

“He’s intense,” Mingyu comments, stealing a sip from Wonwoo’s glass and grimacing at the beverage in it, “And this thing sucks.”

“They can’t even make a Screwdriver in here,” Wonwoo agrees, taking it back and drinking it anyway. Anything to distract himself from the sudden need to fix Mingyu’s fringe where it sticks to his forehead. The feeling of being watched makes him turn towards the dancefloor once again, and there Soonyoung is, dancing with the blonde girl from earlier. They make eye contact over her shoulder, Soonyoung’s smirk sharp when he spots Wonwoo looking at him. A wink, and then he’s twirling around, disappearing once again from view. 

“I’m pretty sure Soonyoung-hyung would be happy to fix the screwing part.” 

The words are spoken quietly next to his ear, where Mingyu has leaned in to be heard over the noise, and Wonwoo has to strain every single one of his muscles not to jump in surprise.

“It’s not like that, between us,” he mutters, but Mingyu huffs a chuckle, lets his head fall down to Wonwoo’s shoulder and rest there. 

“Well, then you should fix that,” his cheek feels hot through Wonwoo’s shirt, and Wonwoo’s brain short-circuits. “I think you’re missing out.”

Wonwoo thinks hard on what he’s supposed to say, but he can’t find any words to shape his thoughts, the image of Soonyoung and Mingyu dancing together branded with fire in his memory and taking up his attention. There’s a stretch of silence between them, Mingyu’s hair tickling the side of Wonwoo’s face while the older thinks of tangled limbs and seductive smiles, of touches so warm they feel like scorching suns. 

When Soonyoung slips on the stool across from them he has three shots of what looks like mint flavored vodka in his hands, and Wonwoo and Mingyu spring apart fast enough to make the table wobble. The redhead raises an eyebrow at them, but doesn’t comment on it, placing the three tiny glasses on the surface between them and smirking. 

“Bottoms up, losers,” he says, before drinking one and motioning for them to do the same. Mingyu clinks his glass with Soonyoung’s empty one and then with Wonwoo’s, smiling sweetly when he says: “Cheers.”

Wonwoo smiles back before drowning his sorrows in the green-tinted liquid.

**✧**

Maybe Wonwoo made a mistake the previous night. Maybe he made some miscalculations. Maybe, just maybe, he completely forgot he was supposed to drink his weekly dose of blood straight from the fridge - even if Jeonghan left him a post-it on the fridge door to remind him. Sometimes Wonwoo is forgetful like that. This time around he postponed his blood dose for days, forgetting entirely about it for far too long. 

He didn’t think it would be such a problem.

Three hours into his shift, and he’s already feeling like literal shit. Turns out it actually _was_ a problem. Who would have thought?

It’s another slow day, rain pouring outside since early in the morning. There aren’t many people around, which makes it easier for Wonwoo to fold his arms over the desk and rest his head over them, trying to fight the headache that is starting to build behind his temples. He’s tempted to send a quick text to Jeonghan asking him for help, but there’s no way he’s available for a quick delivery. It could be worse, Wonwoo reasons. It could have been a busy day and he could have had to run around the library helping people while fighting off the need to sink his fangs into them. 

Hours pass by so slowly Wonwoo wonders if time is moving at all. 

The headache has built up to something sharp that makes it hard for him to keep his eyes open, his chin resting over his folded arms as he blinks slowly at the door opening and closing, a college student coming by to return a book she’s asked for the previous week. Wonwoo attempts a smile at her, but she frowns at him.

“Are you ok, Wonwoo-ssi?”

Her name is Eunbin, Wonwoo remembers because he was the one that registered the loan a few days back. Nodding his head, he tries to sit up a bit to at least seem less ready to fall asleep on the job. “I’m alright, I just need to eat a bit once my shift is over.”

Eunbin has her eyebrows knit together. “I already ate my mid-afternoon snack, or I’d give you some of that.”

“It’s ok!” Wonwoo waves a hand in the air to gesture for her to leave without worrying too much. “I will close up soon enough. Don’t you worry.”

She doesn’t seem very convinced by his words, probably because his voice is coming out strained, his tone deeper than usual. All his energies are trying to keep his vital systems alight, Wonwoo knows that because Jeonghan has explained how it works. His secondary functions are going to slowly shut off, one after the other. 

“Please, eat something soon!” Eunbin says while leaving, with still a concerned frown morphing her face, “And drink some water as well!” She adds before opening the door to face the storm raging outside.

“Will do,” Wonwoo assures her, before letting his head fall back down over the wooden counter and closing his eyes. The sounds he can hear are just faint, background ones that he’s attuned to; there aren’t any clients, and the pitter-patter of rain falling on the roof is slowly lulling him to sleep. He must be zoning out, because the next time he comes to his senses the glass door is falling shut with a loud thud and he’s jumping up in his seat in surprise. 

“Wonwoo!” Soonyoung calls for his name, shaking his head like a puppy and making water droplets fall around him on the carpet at the entrance. Wonwoo would like to tell him off, but he can’t find the strength to do much more than raise his head in the direction of his voice, his eyelids feeling extremely heavy when he fights the need to let them fall shut. “My sixth sense tingled, I knew you were bored to death today!” 

Soonyoung’s steps echo between the empty rows of bookshelves as he gets closer to the counter. Succumbing to the need to close his eyes, Wonwoo rests his cheek over his folded elbow once again. 

“You’re sleeping on the job?!” Soonyoung marvels, his voice sounding muted inside Wonwoo’s ears. When Wonwoo doesn’t give him a reply, Soonyoung speaks again: “Hey, Wonwoo-yah! Are you sleeping for real?” There are traces of concern in his tone that Wonwoo’s tired brain can’t help but feel bad for. He shouldn’t make Soonyoung worry for him, but his head is so, so heavy and he can’t seem to find the command in his brain to actually move his muscles, straighten his neck. There’s another call of his name that he doesn’t respond to, Soonyoung’s words sounding closer and closer.

“Wonwoo!” Soonyoung’s voice sounds concerned, on the verge of panic, so Wonwoo puts all his efforts into raising his head and looking directly at him. What Soonyoung sees on Wonwoo’s face must make him even more worried, because he’s in front of him in an instant, so fast Wonwoo’s wondering how did he move across the room in a heartbeat. 

Suddenly there is a warm palm on his forehead, and Wonwoo’s eyes flutter shut again, Soonyoung’s skin on his acting as a calming balm. At the back of his mind, he knows this is dangerous. He shouldn’t be so close to a human in his state, not when his whole body is thrumming with the need to capture Soonyoung’s hand in his and sink his teeth into the flesh of his wrist. Biting down on his lip, he lets out a shuddering breath. 

“Soonyoung-ah,” he manages to utter, leaning more into the redhead’s touch instead of getting some distance between them as he should, “I’m not feeling very good.”

A chuckle resonates inside the empty library, the lightness of it at odds with the red swimming at the sides of Wonwoo’s sight. 

“You’re as cold as ice,” Soonyoung points out, his fingers combing Wonwoo’s hair back from where it falls in curls on his forehead, “Do you think you can walk outside? I’ll call a cab.” 

Nodding, Wonwoo lets his head move forward, the only thing keeping him upright Soonyoung’s fingers on him. 

“I can’t take it alone,” he says, hoping that Soonyoung will just think he’s too sick to hop off at the right stop, and not that he will probably suck the taxi driver dry. Somehow, he’s more scared of that than hurting Soonyoung right here, right now - the smell of the blood thrumming through Soonyoung’s veins is not that appealing to him at the moment. It’s weird, but he doesn’t question it. 

“It’s ok Wonwoo-yah, I’ll take care of you.” 

It’s oddly comforting, how Soonyoung helps him put his cheek on the counter while he calls someone to come and pick them up. The conversation is subdued, not being registered by Wonwoo’s lethargic mind. When Wonwoo hears Mingyu’s voice he thinks he’s hallucinating it. 

“Thanks for calling me, hyung,” Mingyu is stating, and Wonwoo wants to tell him that he didn’t call at all, but it’s Soonyoung who’s replying. 

“I thought he shouldn’t be around anyone else in this state,” he says, and Wonwoo wholeheartedly agrees. He’s not sure how Soonyoung came up with the idea of calling Mingyu, of all people, but he’s glad that’s the person he went to ask help from. It’s easy to reign his instincts around Mingyu - werewolves and vampires are not made to mix, and Mingyu’s blood is completely unappealing to him.

“Yeah, you did the right thing. Help me bring him to the car.” 

Apparently Mingyu is truly there in the flesh, because he’s at Wonwoo’s left side, guiding him to his feet with a little help from Soonyoung on the other side. When the vampire finally manages to open his eyes, Mingyu’s soft smile is the first thing he sees. 

“Hey, hyung,” Mingyu greets him, and then they’re moving towards the exit, all of his weight being supported by his friends. 

“I need to close up,” Wonwoo whispers, but Soonyoung is already a step ahead, shutting down the lights and fishing the keys out of Wonwoo’s coat before draping it over his shoulders. 

“On it, Wonwoo-yah.” Soonyoung has seen him do the same routine often enough to know what to do, being there at closing time to wait for him more often than not lately, so Wonwoo lets his eyes fall shut, resting his head on Mingyu’s shoulder.

“Jeonghan-hyung is gonna be so mad,” Mingyu mutters, as he gently pushes Wonwoo’s on the passenger seat of his car, buckling the seatbelt for him. He sighs, and then turns to thank Soonyoung again before making his way over to the driver’s seat. The door on Wonwoo’s side is still open, and Soonyoung leans in to gently comb his fingers through Wonwoo’s hair once again. 

“Thank you, Soonyoung-ah,” Wonwoo croaks out, opening his eyes to catch sight of his saviour. The redhead has a weird light in his gaze, something Wonwoo can’t decipher in his state, but he grins at Wonwoo nonetheless, all pretty teeth and thrumming energy barely restrained. 

“Don’t mention it. Take care of yourself, ok? I’ll see you soon.”

Soonyoung trails his fingers down from his hair along his jaw, thumb caressing his skin and leaving a warm path behind it. His smile grows bigger, and Wonwoo feels like there’s something out of place, like Soonyoung has suddenly too many teeth in his mouth, making his expression sharper.

He lets exhaustion pull him into a restless sleep for the whole ride home, too tired to make sense of what he might or might have not seen. 

**✧**

What's the point in celebrating a birthday when you’re an immortal being who stopped aging more than a century down the road? Wonwoo doesn’t know, but that doesn’t stop Jeonghan from organizing parties every single year, on the 4th of October. In Wonwoo's opinion it's an annoying habit, in Jeonghan's it's a celebration of the most wonderful creature that ever existed on planet Earth. They agree to disagree. 

The problem has been, for the past five years, what to get him as a present. What to gift to someone who's been on Earth for one hundred and sixty-nine years? Wonwoo doesn't know. This time around, it's Mingyu who gives him an idea. 

"You should invite Jihoon-hyung to Jeonghan-hyung's party."

Wonwoo is sitting behind the counter, scrolling through a list of books he needs to catalog, while Mingyu is on the floor, curled up with one of said books in his hands. He has glasses on the bridge of his nose, and he looks tiny where he's folded next to Wonwoo's feet, taking the place of a guard dog. At times Wonwoo reaches his hand down to fix an unruly strand of hair on top of his head, and Mingyu rewards him with shy smiles. 

The library is almost empty, being too late in the evening on a weekend without exams incoming in the near future, but Mingyu decided to stick around and keep Wonwoo company until closing time. They've been reading in silence for a while until Mingyu spoke up to suggest inviting Jihoon. 

"I'm pretty sure he has a crush on Jeonghan-hyung," he adds, his gaze still focused on the pages of his book. Wonwoo raises a brow in disbelief. 

"He what now?" 

Mingyu's nod is solemn, and this time he stares at Wonwoo when he speaks. 

"I saw him blush when Jeonghan asked him the time the other day," he says excitedly, his words rushed, "Jihoon-hyung, blushing! Can you believe that?" 

Actually, Wonwoo really can't. He voices his doubts out loud but Mingyu keeps on talking: "And last week I caught him staring at Jeonghan's ass! His ass! He doesn't even have one."

"Are you sure he wasn't looking for an easy way to kill him?" 

"If he was thinking of putting a stake in him, I can assure you it wasn't a wooden one."

Wonwoo splutters, moving his gaze away from Mingyu's pleased grin. 

"Whatever," the vampire mutters, rolling his eyes, "I'll make sure to invite him. I can make it my present for Jeonghan, but I'll need to make sure his precious human is under my protection."

Suddenly, thoughts about another precious human cloud his mind, thoughts of soft cheeks and squeaky laughs. 

"Should we ask Soonyoung-hyung if he wants to come, too?" Mingyu has his phone in his hand, clearly texting said hyung. A sting of something that Jeonghan would call jealousy thrums through Wonwoo's veins, but he refuses to acknowledge it. It's stupid. Mingyu and Soonyoung can text each other all they want. It’s not like Wonwoo has a reason to stop them, anyway. 

"Why not?" Wonwoo agrees, and Mingyu types happily away, nodding slowly. 

"I think he'd feel left out otherwise, since we're both going,” he reasons aloud, and Wonwoo removes his eyes from his fast fingers to focus on his own work. 

Smiling, Mingyu sends one last text and turns his head up towards Wonwoo. "He said he's coming."

"We should probably keep an eye on him, too," Wonwoo points out, and Mingyu huffs a disbelieving chuckle in response, the side of his head nudging lightly at Wonwoo’s knee. 

"I'm pretty sure he can take care of himself, but if you want to keep an eye on him I won't stop you."

There’s no heat to his words, just a little bit of teasing maybe, but Wonwoo feels ashamed all the same, tilting his face towards the screen in front of him to avoid Mingyu’s gaze. Being the sweet, understanding boy that he is, Mingyu reads the mood immediately, shifting on the floor so he can rest his cheek against Wonwoo’s thigh, his nose upturned, his lips pursed into a pout.

“C’mon hyung, don’t be mad.”

“I’m not mad,” Wonwoo bites out, his voice icy even against his best effort to sound unaffected, “You can take care of Soonyoung while I keep my eyes on Jihoon.”

“I’m pretty sure Jihoon-hyung doesn’t need a baby-sitter either, he’s capable of killing everyone without breaking a sweat. Isn’t that the reason why Jeonghan-hyung has the hots for him?”

“Jeonghan-hyung is really, really weird.”

The laugh they share at Jeonghan’s expense fills the almost empty room and dissolves the tension between them, until an old lady standing in the thriller section makes shushing noises at them. Their chuckles subside, but the air is clear again, and Mingyu goes back to the pages of his book.

When he looks up it’s to the sound of his own belly rumbling in hunger, his canines showing when he smiles at Wonwoo and whines. 

“Hyung,” he says, dragging the word out and batting his eyelashes like a damsel in distress, “I want ramen.”

Not giving him an answer, Wonwoo keeps typing at his keyboard, his eyes avoiding looking down to see the plea he’s sure to find on Mingyu’s face. Too weak, that’s what he is for the brat sitting on the floor. 

“Hyung,” Mingyu repeats, tugging a little at Wonwoo’s sweater, his fingers pulling the fabric on his arm down. 

There’s a voice at the back of Wonwoo’s mind that keeps telling him to stop being so fucking soft, and it sounds suspiciously like Jeonghan’s. His gaze moves on its own accord, and he’s staring into Mingyu’s imploring eyes. “What,” he replies, as if he didn’t hear him clearly the first time he spoke. The werewolf pouts more.

“Hyung!” He reiterates, “I said I’m hungry!” 

“Go home and eat,” Wonwoo tells him, but Mingyu knows him well enough to understand he’s just taunting him a little. Nonetheless, he plays dumb.

“So you’re gonna make me starve? Your friend who has been nothing but a good boy?”

“You always brag about being a great cook,” Wonwoo interjects, pointedly ignoring the fact that Mingyu just called himself _a good boy_. What the hell, his brain says, what the fucking hell. 

“You’re making me go home on this cold night, all the way back, alone? Just so I can make a meal for myself?” He sounds offended, and even though Wonwoo knows he’s just joking around, he barely stops himself from cooing at his sour expression. 

“I’m hungry, too.” 

Maybe he’s playing with fire, but at times Wonwoo feels like ruffling Mingyu’s feathers up a little bit, since he’s always the one being teased by the younger. Looking down at him, he deliberately runs his tongue over his fangs. 

For a second, Mingyu seems ready to bolt, but then he’s gently headbutting Wonwoo’s knee. “Stop playing, I want ramen.”

There’s a sigh escaping Wonwoo’s lips while he picks up Mingyu’s phone and calls the delivery place. All the while Mingyu beams at him like he just hung the sun in the sky. What he doesn’t need to know is that for Wonwoo’s the brightest sunlight comes from Mingyu’s grateful smile.

Jeonghan is fortunately working his night shift tonight, so he’s not around to witness how incredibly whipped Wonwoo is. There’s no need for him to have actual proof, given that he teases Wonwoo about it on the regular anyway. 

Mingyu eats with such a passion that Wonwoo can’t help but stare at him as he slurps the noodles up in his mouth, making little excited noises as he opens styrofoam containers one after the other to discover his favourites that Wonwoo ordered for him. Technically Wonwoo could eat a bit, but he’s just content with watching Mingyu inhale the food, munching on some fried chicken. 

“Thank you so much, hyung,” Mingyu says between a bite and the other, “I really didn’t feel like cooking today.”

“Oh? Why is that?”

A tiny frown appears on Mingyu’s face, and Wonwoo almost immediately regrets asking. “One of my professors gave me an assignment. I have to re-create a traditional dish, and add a twist of my own.” A mouthful of rice goes down his throat before he elaborates more. “I’ve been trying to think of something for more than a week, but she keeps rejecting all of my ideas.”

Mingyu’s mouth is curled in a little pout even as he munches, his eyes downcast on the table. Feeling terrible for having brought such a sour expression on Mingyu’s face, Wonwoo reaches out to pat the top of his head in consolation. 

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he says, sincerity pouring into his words. “I’m sure you’ll find something soon enough. It sounds like your professor is just being annoying.”

“She said it’s because she knows I can do better, but all my ideas feel so stupid.”

“I won’t take this slander,” Wonwoo tuts, reaching out with his chopsticks to steal a bite from below Mingyu’s nose, “Kim Mingyu is the best cook I know, and he’s going to ace this class.”

Mingyu seems genuinely touched by his words, his eyes going glassy for a second as he meets Wonwoo’s gaze. “Thank you, hyung,” he lets out in a soft murmur, bending his neck to try and hide the blush appearing on his cheeks. The effort is unnecessary, because Wonwoo can see the tips of his ears getting crimson and can feel the accelerated rhythm of his heart in the air. 

“It’s no big deal, Mingyu-yah. I’m just stating the truth.” 

After that, the werewolf finishes his food with a tiny smile curling his lips; a comfortable silence settles between them, and Wonwoo wonders if what he’s feeling inside his chest is the beating of his own undead heart or the reflection of Mingyu’s. Either way, it’s far too fast. 

**✧**

The music is so loud inside the apartment that Wonwoo can barely hear his own thoughts, the thumping in his ears drowning every other sound coming from the mass of people partying in the living room. Every single year Wonwoo marvels at the amount of people Jeonghan is acquainted with, as antisocial as he is. It seems like half the magic world is present, vampires and werewolves, witches and demons. A few humans here and there, all unaware of the dangerous surroundings, except Jihoon of course. 

The hunter looks ready to kill, dressed as he is in all black, his dark hair swiped back to show his undercut. The light in his eyes is a big warning sign, screaming at everyone to stay away from him, and Wonwoo realizes that Mingyu was right, he doesn’t need to keep an eye on him. When Jeonghan spots him, he pales. 

“What is Jihoon doing here?” he asks, clutching Wonwoo’s arm with more force than necessary, what seems like fear downing on his face. 

“Surprise?” Wonwoo says back, because what else can he add? There's an array of emotions clouding Jeonghan’s eyes, and for a second Wonwoo thinks this is it, he has finally managed to break the older vampire. After a minute or two of staring at Jihoon while the shorter man sips something from a red cup, clearly annoyed at the loud room, Jeonghan finally snaps out of it. 

“Wonwoo,” he states, eyes still a little unfocused, “You’re such a sexy motherfucker.”

“Thanks?”

The wet smooch Jeonghan leaves on his cheek is unexpected, but not unwelcome. For how many times Wonwoo likes to repeat he loathes Jeonghan, he for sure has a weak spot for the man that saved his life. 

“Best friend I’ve ever had,” he adds, smiling sharply before making his way to the other side of the room. If Wonwoo is grinning like a fool, it’s just because he can see Jihoon stiffening when he sees the vampire approaching him. 

One of the other humans in the apartment is Kim Taehyung, a college kid who’s clearly unaware of where the fuck he is and of the fact that the man he’s living with isn’t exactly a man. Park Jimin is wearing a red shirt tucked inside dark skinny jeans, his silver hair gleaming under the dimmed lights, and he looks ready to pounce at anyone who even dares to look at Taehyung. No one would ever try, since Jimin is probably the most dangerous creature in the room, but Taehyung is oblivious either way.

The human that Wonwoo cares about is nowhere in sight, and he’s starting to worry. Soonyoung texted him earlier, saying he would run late and that Mingyu was so sweet as to wait for him. Wonwoo is fine with it. It’s convenient, since Mingyu has a car and Soonyoung doesn’t. 

“Hey, mister librarian,” Taehyung’s boxy smile is adorable, even if Wonwoo can sense Jimin’s stare boring right through him, “Can I ask you something?”

“Hello, Taehyung. Shoot.”

“Do I stink?” The guy questions, wriggling his nose as to try and sniff his own shirt. If he was being honest, Wonwoo would say that Kim Taehyung smells great, _tasty_ even, but he doesn't need to or doesn’t want to be that detailed. 

“I don’t think so,” he replies instead, trying not to flinch when he spots Jimin making eye contact with him beside Taehyung’s back. They both know that Wonwoo has no ill intentions, but Jimin’s aura is just so intimidating even from several meters away.

“Then what’s the problem? It seems like everyone is avoiding me for some reason.”  
Wonwoo is about to reply with some generic excuse, but before he can open up his mouth there are arms around his middle and there’s Soonyoung’s voice coming from behind him: “Oh boy, everyone seems to be very stupid.”

Taehyung looks as taken aback at Soonyoung’s sudden appearance as Wonwoo feels. 

“Hello,” Soonyoung says, hooking his chin over Wonwoo’s shoulder and tightening his hold over the vampire, “Hope I’m not too late to the party.”

The lilt of his voice is teasing, as to imply something else, and Taehyung’s eyes widen, his cheeks reddening for whatever reason. If Wonwoo had a little more blood to drink, he would probably blush the same way. 

“Hello,” Taehyung replies, “I don’t think I know you.”

“Oh, no, you definitely don’t. I’m Soonyoung.” 

Taehyung is about to say something else, but Jimin is at his side in no time, appearing out of thin air. Despite him being the shorter one in their little group, it feels like he’s the one looking down on them.

“Wonwoo-ssi,” Jimin spits his name out as if it was poison, and Wonwoo has to restrain all his muscles to avoid cowering in fear. “Who’s your friend?” 

“Kwon Soonyoung,” said friend lets go of Wonwoo and puts his hand out for Jimin to shake. The vampire doesn’t even look at it, but snakes an arm around Taehyung’s middle instead. 

“Park Jimin.”

The smile on Soonyoung’s face dims a little, but he seems to recover as he crosses his arms over his chest. Wonwoo feels like he’s missing a very important piece of the conversation happening before him, but he can’t wrap his head around what exactly is he missing. Instead, he looks at Soonyoung’s chest muscles straining his very tight shirt. 

“It was a pleasure to meet you,” Jimin says, but he manages to make it sound like it was an insult, “But we’re off to get a drink, aren’t we, Taehyungie?”

Taehyung seems a little out of it when he nods, his eyes clearly focused on Soonyoung’s flexed arms. “We’ll see you later,” the vampire says, and drags his friend away without looking back. 

When Soonyoung turns completely towards him, Wonwoo sucks in a sharp breath, even if he doesn’t need oxygen to survive. Soonyoung looks amazing on a regular day, but tonight there’s something about him that makes Wonwoo’s mouth water upon sight. His red hair is out of his face, styled back in a way that makes his features look sharper, his usually soft cheeks looking more dangerous than ever. There’s eyeshadow on his eyelids, and his gaze is intense, charged with electricity when it meets Wonwoo’s eyes. 

“Hi, sorry I’m late,” Soonyoung smiles, his eyes disappearing, and Wonwoo swears his heart does an elaborate gymnastic routine inside his chest. There’s a hand on Wonwoo’s shoulder, smoothing down a crease in his shirt, and the vampire stares at the fingers, unable to form a sentence when he fully takes in the attire Soonyoung is dressed in. Leather pants. That’s all his brain can register when his gaze dips lower.

“Hi,” he says, a beat too late, and Soonyoung’s grin grows bigger. “It’s ok, don’t worry.” Wonwoo tries to keep his eyes on Soonyoung’s face, but the long-sleeved shirt he’s wearing hugs his torso like a glove and it’s not his fault if he’s so weak. “I don’t think Jeonghan-hyung minds, he’s too occupied with Jihoon to care about anything else.”

Soonyoung raises a suggestive eyebrow at that, seemingly interested in Wonwoo’s words. Before he can ask any questions, Wonwoo raises his hand in the air to stop him. 

“You really don’t want to know.”

A tiny pout curls Soonyoung’s lips. “But I do!”

“Trust me, you don’t.” 

Soonyoung huffs, letting go of Wonwoo’s shirt to fold his arms above his chest. Looking anywhere over his collarbones turns out to be a very hard challenge, but Wonwoo is very proud of himself when he manages to look Soonyoung in the eyes. 

“Do you want something to drink?” Wonwoo asks him just to change topics, looking around the people in the room before realizing that someone is missing. “Wait, where is Mingyu? Didn’t he come here with you?”

Instead of replying to him, Soonyoung takes Wonwoo by the hand and guides him towards the kitchen, where Jeonghan has arranged a table full of empty cups and full bottles. Mingyu is there, chatting away with a witch Wonwoo doesn’t remember the name of - Hope? Faith? Something like that. She seems far too eager to put her manicured fingers on Mingyu’s bicep and squeeze it, smiling sweetly when Mingyu says something to her. Soonyoung doesn’t seem to catch the atmosphere surrounding them, sliding right next to Mingyu with Wonwoo in tow and putting an arm around Mingyu’s back.

Joy - that’s the name, Wonwoo suddenly remembered - returns her hand to her side, cocking her head to the side while regarding the three of them with an indecipherable glint in her eyes. 

“And who are these?” She asks, pointing at them with her forefinger. There’s a smile on her face, but it’s one that doesn’t reach her eyes, Wonwoo can tell. 

“I’m Soonyoung, and this is Wonwoo!” Soonyoung excitedly rattles, “And we’re here to claim Mingyu back! He was supposed to bring our drinks out in the living room at least five minutes ago.”

“Sorry, hyung, I got a bit sidetracked.” Mingyu pouts, putting out his hands towards them and offering a cup each. “I got some wine for Wonwoo-hyung and something very alcoholic for Soonyoung-hyung.” 

Wonwoo takes the cup from his fingers, smiling at him. “It’s nice to see you,” he says as a greeting, to which Mingyu’s lips curl up in a grin of his own. “Same!” 

Soonyoung already has his lips around the rim of his cup and is chugging down whatever concoction is in there. It was Jeonghan that took care of the drinks, and Wonwoo has no idea what he put in the punch he made, let alone if he changed the liquids inside the bottles. He just hopes Soonyoung doesn’t get too fucked up. 

Joy has a horrified expression on her face when Soonyoung finishes his drink in three long gulps. 

“I think I’ll leave you three to it,” she says, before addressing Mingyu specifically, “If you end up around here again, come visit. I’m in apartment 11B. We can have some pizza together.” 

A tiny nod in agreement from Mingyu makes her disappear, leaving behind her the smell of flowers and cotton candy. 

“She seems nice,” Mingyu states, to which Soonyoung snorts. 

“Sure, if by nice you mean she seems like she was ready to eat you alive.” 

There’s a disconcerted tiny sound coming out of Mingyu’s mouth. “She wouldn’t!”

“I hate to say this, but I truly believe Soonyoung is right.” Wonwoo earns a half-assed punch to his shoulder from Soonyoung. “She really looked ready to devour you.”

Mingyu seems truly, incredibly shocked by the news, but he gets over it quickly as soon as Soonyoung mixes a drink for him. There’s a small smile that seems to be screaming _trouble_ on Soonyoung's lips when he passes the red cup to Mingyu, their fingers touching. The blush that appears on Mingyu’s cheeks spreads all the way to the tips of his ears. 

The party is in full swing when the three of them make their way back to the living room - for being a get-together organized by a hundred years old, it looks more like a typical college party. It’s almost easy to forget that all the people in the room feed either on blood or human flesh, occasionally. Almost, because Wonwoo’s eyes can’t leave Soonyoung even as he moves to the middle of the room to join the mass of dancing bodies, too worried of losing sight of him and having him literally devoured by one of the witches. 

What he said to Mingyu earlier wasn’t an exaggeration, the witches do eat souls for dinner. 

Speaking of Mingyu, the werewolf disappeared some time ago after meeting one of his pack buddies, a certain Seungcheol guy that somehow knows Jeonghan. Their world sure is a small one, Wonwoo reasons as he watches Soonyoung spin in between the arms of one of the witches, one with long lavender wavy hair. He’s laughing as she gets closer to tell him something, whispering in his ear. Wonwoo takes another sip of his wine, his eyes unmoving.

He wonders if Soonyoung can feel his gaze on him or if he has a sixth sense dedicated entirely to him as he always says, because soon enough their eyes meet. Soonyoung sends a wink in his direction, motioning with his forefinger for him to come closer. Stubborn, Wonwoo stays rooted in place, pretending he can’t see him. 

“Stop sulking,” Mingyu bumps their shoulders together, having materialized out of thin air. “Is there blood in your wine? Because I wanted to take a sip, but if there’s even a trace of body fluids mixed with it I don’t think I can take it.” 

The werewolf’s eyes are round and sparkly, his tongue sounding looser than usual. His tipsiness is evident in the sound his words make in his mouth, his lisp more pronounced than ever. Wonwoo can’t suppress the smirk that curls his lips.

“Jeonghan mixed this, of course there’s blood in it.”

“That sucks! Let’s get Soonyoung and go take some shots, then.” A pause, as Mingyu’s body has already moved towards the makeshift dance floor but his brain is still catching up, “Wait, shouldn’t we be having cake? Isn’t this a birthday party? Where is Jeonghan-hyung?” 

“You sure talk a lot when there’s alcohol in your system,” Wonwoo muses, but Mingyu doesn’t seem to hear him, too busy craning his neck left and right in search for Jeonghan, apparently. Wonwoo snorts at the way he gets on his tippy-toes, as if he wasn’t already taller than most people in the room. “No but for real, where’s the birthday boy? Guy? Vampire?” Mingyu asks, and Wonwoo elbows him in the ribs just in time, as Soonyoung rolls in front of them, all sweaty skin and toothy smile.

“Damn, that girl sure knows how to dance,” he says, using the back of his hand to wipe the sweat off his forehead. There’s a drop of it making its way slowly down the column of his neck, and Wonwoo finds himself mesmerized, staring at it as it makes its descent. If he wasn’t drinking blood straight out of a cup, he would probably feel the need to sink his fangs into the very inviting curve of Soonyoung’s neck. He shakes his head to clear his thoughts. Damn, the enhanced alcohol is already hitting him. 

“I was telling Mingyu I should probably go looking for Jeonghan, you know, birthday cake and all that jazz.”

“You didn’t say anything of the sort,” Mingyu frowns, “Or did I miss it? Oh, am I so drunk already?”

Before he can do something stupid, like bring Soonyoung closer to his side by pulling on his belt, or like shutting Mingyu up in ways that he shouldn’t be thinking about, Wonwoo disappears down the corridor, towards his bedroom. There’s a door separating the living area from the bedrooms, and as soon as Wonwoo closes it behind himself, he sags against it. 

“Damn,” he says out loud to himself. Damn indeed. What the fuck was that? Is he already so far gone that he can’t even control himself in front of his friends? Insane. 

He doesn’t exactly know why he came here to look for Jeonghan - if anything, knowing him, he should be outside, in the middle of the people in the other room, soaking in the birthday greetings and the cheers. Jeonghan thrives on chaos and appreciation, and here, in this dark, silent part of the house, there’s nothing of the sort. Just to not waste any possible chance at finding him, he knocks on the door of his bedroom.

“Hey hyung!” He says to the wooden surface, “Are you in there?”

There’s a muffled sound, like someone struggling to speak through restraint. Wonwoo wonders if he just imagined. His mind doesn’t seem to be working correctly, so he knocks for a second time. “Hyung?” He calls, tuning his ear to the noises filtering through the walls. The whole house is soundproof, but Wonwoo has supernatural hearing on his side. 

Again, the same sound. Wonwoo tries the door, turning the handle. It’s open.

And immediately, he wishes it wasn’t.

“Oh fuck,” he spits out, paralized in the entrance of Jeonghan’s room. Jihoon doesn’t seem amused. 

“Do you mind?” The hunter says, waving his hand in the air to shoo him away. There’s a knife between his fingers, the edge of it looking very dangerous. But Jeonghan doesn’t seem to mind, not in the least. Wonwoo wants to bleach his own eyes. “Fuck,” Wonwoo repeats, to which the human raises an eyebrow. 

“Yeah, that’s what we’re doing here. Your friend is fine, now disappear.”

It sounds like an order, which makes Wonwoo turn on his heels and disappear from there as fast as he can. There are still the sounds of Jeonghan’s faint grunts and whines ringing inside his ears when he’s back inside the living room. 

He really wishes there was a way to erase his memories. Maybe if he asked one of the witches…

“Hey,” Soonyoung pops out of nowhere, his eyes glinting under the living room’s lights. Wonwoo has his back against the closed door that leads to the bedroom, and when Soonyoung takes a step forward he feels trapped, Soonyoung’s body almost pushing against his own. 

“What’s going on in there?” Soonyoung’s nose is upturned, like if he could smell that there is something weird happening on the other side of the hallway. To stop him before he thinks going in there is a good idea, Wonwoo puts both of his hands on his shoulders. 

“Nothing! Nothing to see there! I just went to my room to look for,” Wonwoo gulps down his nervousness, “For some matches to turn the birthday cake candles on!”

“I believe I saw a lighter in the kitchen,” Soonyoung muses, his eyes still fixed somewhere over Wonwoo shoulder as if he could see through the woods and bricks, stare directly at whatever Wonwoo just witnessed. “Someone was using it to light up some flambé shots.”

“Oh, isn’t that wonderful! Problem solved!”

“Where is Jeonghan-hyung?” Soonyoung has his head cocked to the side, a smirk on his lips. Wonwoo doesn’t know how, but he seems to know exactly what is happening in Jeonghan’s room as they speak. It’s a bit terrifying. With both of his hands still on Soonyoung’s shoulders, Wonwoo pushes him backwards a couple of steps, until they’re no longer dangerously close to the door. 

“He’s quite busy at the moment,” Wonwoo tells him, to which Soonyoung raises one of his eyebrows, clearly amused. “He drank too much, wasn’t feeling very well. He said we should go on and eat the cake without him!” 

“Sure,” Soonyoung’s gaze is still glittering with something Wonwoo can’t quite catch. “I’m actually very hungry, now that you say that.” 

It’s with an unexpected move that Soonyoung’s hand ends up in Wonwoo’s, their fingers interlaced as Soonyoung walks with purpose towards the kitchen. He doesn’t stop there, though. Long strides take them on the other side of the house, past the living room, towards one of the bathrooms. He’s almost afraid that Soonyoung is about to tell him he’s feeling sick, but when the other opens the door they find Mingyu there, sitting on the floor with his long legs folded under himself, looking far too tiny for a man as tall as he is. 

“Hyung!” Mingyu squeals, sounding drunker than when Wonwoo saw him an hour before. Was Mingyu the one feeling sick? “You’re here too! What a coincidence!”

“Mingyu, this is my house.”

The werewolf’s eyebrows knit together, his face scrunching up in thought. 

“I meant in this bathroom!” 

“Oh,” Soonyoung pushes Wonwoo further inside the room, a hand to the small of his back, “I guess I’d say it was a coincidence, but Soonyoung brought me here.”

“You too?!” Mingyu smiles, his sharp canines showing up, “He told me to wait here, said he had a plan.” 

The hair on Wonwoo’s nape stands on edge as he turns around, finding Soonyoung out of the bathroom, his hand on the handle. “Sorry guys,” he says, sounding not apologetic in the least, “This is part of the plan.”

The door gets slammed on Wonwoo’s nose. It takes him a full minute to realize what just happened, and then he’s pounding his fists on the door. 

“Soonyoung! Kwon Soonyoung! Open up immediately!” 

There’s the faint sound of laughter on the other side, but no other sign that Soonyoung has actually heard him. Wonwoo can still hear the music and the conversations carrying on from the living room, but not the noise of Soonyoung’s breath, or of his heartbeat. Has he already left?

When he turns around, Mingyu is still sitting on the bathroom floor like this is a normal occurrence, like Soonyoung traps him inside rooms with people all the fucking time. 

This night is starting to become ridiculous. 

“What is it now? What’s this plan? Do you know what he has in mind?”

If possible, Mingyu becomes even smaller, his shoulders rising up to his ears and his gaze falling over the bathroom’s tiles. 

“Maybe,” he whispers, almost inaudible. If it wasn’t for his heightened senses Wonwoo would have probably missed it. He takes some steps closer to the werewolf, letting himself fall down to the floor, crossing his legs and patiently waiting for an explanation. 

It takes a couple of minutes for Mingyu to start talking, and when he does his words are rushed, his cheeks crimson red with what Wonwoo supposes is embarrassment. 

“I told hyung that I had a crush on you and he said that he would help me out,” Mingyu lets out in one single breath, not daring to raise his eyes from where they’re fixed on the floral pattern on the floor. Wonwoo thinks he misheard. 

“What?!” He asks, because what else can he do? There’s no way he heard that properly. There must be something wrong in his ears. Maybe he’s drunker than he thought he was. 

“I like you, Wonwoo-hyung,” Mingyu repeats, unmistakable words falling out of his lips. Staring at them as they move around the sentence, Wonwoo believes he’s completely lost his mind. It must be it, it must be the effect of seeing Jeonghan and Jihoon in the other room not even ten minutes before. It’s fucked with his head, it’s burned all his brain cells. 

“Sorry, Mingyu-yah.” Mingyu suddenly looks up, his jaw set when their eyes meet. The expression on his face pulls at Wonwoo’s heartstrings, makes him want to reach out to make the crease between his eyebrows disappear, “I think I misheard you. There must have been something too strong in the wine. What did you just say?”

At that Mingyu seems to deflate, a big sigh coming out of his lips as he sags on himself. The expression on his face is a mix between exasperation and endearment. 

“I said,” Mingyu sighs, and Wonwoo scoots closer to him, his hand moving on its own accord to comb back a strand of Mingyu’s hair that has fallen on his forehead. The words seem to get stuck in his throat, because all he gets out is a strangled whine. 

“What did you say?” Wonwoo asks, gently pushing Mingyu’s hair out of his face. It’s just an unruly curl that doesn’t want to stick with the rest of them, and Wonwoo’s fingers fight against it. 

“I said,” Mingyu repeats, his eyes fixed on Wonwoo’s hand, “That I really, really like you, hyung. I have the biggest crush on you, and I have no idea how you’ve never seen it before.”

It takes some time for Wonwoo to realize that whatever Mingyu said - three times now, wow, he said it thrice - is real. Those are real words coming out of the werewolf’s mouth, real words laced with real feelings. Fuck.

He’s not mentally equipped to deal with this right here, right now. 

“Mingyu,” he begins, his voice quivering, coming out in a whisper, “You’re drunk.”

“I’m tipsy at most.” Mingyu looks fragile, like he’s put his heart on the line and he’s seeing it being walked over. Wishing to make that expression disappear from his face, Wonwoo’s fingers trail down his face, softly caressing his cheek. 

“Hey, it’s ok.” A sniffle, as Mingyu turns his face to the side to avoid looking Wonwoo in the eyes. “Can we have this conversation tomorrow? When none of us will be tipsy?”

“It’s not ok. You don’t feel the same way and you’re trying to find a gentle way to let me down. It’s fine.”

“That’s not what I’m doing.” Wonwoo tries to reason with him, tries to tilt his face so he can actually see what’s in Mingyu’s gaze. The younger refuses to move, his jaw set, his neck muscles struggling to resist the pull of Wonwoo’s hand. Another tiny sniffle, and then Mingyu is on his feet in a flash, moving faster than Wonwoo expected him to. 

He’s knocking on the door.

“Soonyoung-hyung, let me out.” His voice sounds like he’s on the verge of breaking down in tears, and the tone of it pulls at Wonwoo's heartstrings, makes his stomach fill with poison. 

“Mingyu-yah…” Wonwoo calls for him one last time, but as soon as the door clicks open and Soonyoung shows up on the other side, Mingyu shoulders past him to disappear down the corridor, walking at a brisk pace. 

Soonyoung takes one look at Wonwoo, his eyebrows drawn in concern, before muttering a: “Way to go, idiot,” and running behind Mingyu’s retreating back. 

Wonwoo is still sitting on the bathroom’s floor, his eyes fixed on the doorframe. His undead heart is beating inside his ears, annoyingly loud for something that should be closed inside a tomb. A sigh comes out of his lips. 

“Idiot.” He repeats to himself, moving his eyes to the ceiling and taking in the dust that has accumulated on top of the lamp. They surely need to take better care of their house, Wonwoo distractedly notices. He will blame this one on Jeonghan as well.

Before he realizes, he’s on his feet, moving through the living room and the bodies still pressed together in that space. There’s a hand around his wrist before he can make it fully through the room. It’s the witch with lavender hair that was dancing with Soonyoung earlier, her eyes assessing him with controlled interest and maybe a bit of concern. 

“Where did your cute friend go?” She asks, as if it was her right to do so. Wonwoo snatches his arm away from her clutches. 

“That’s none of your business.” Wonwoo replies, and then marches all the way through the room, getting out of the front door, getting inside the elevator, down several floors, in the lobby, and then finally outside, on the curb in front of the building. The crisp night air feels like a slap to the face that he truly deserves. 

“Idiot!” He repeats to himself, wailing loudly. There’s no one around, just a crow perched on a bare tree branch that glares at him. 

“The fuck do you want?” Wonwoo snaps, “Have you never seen a fuck up before?” 

The crow’s eyes glint, and then it’s flying away in a whirlwind, cackling at him. A curse comes out of Wonwoo’s lips before he can stop himself, even if he knows his anger is misdirected. It feels good to scream into the night, so he does it again, a shout so loud it makes his ears ring. 

Then he’s walking away, shivering in his thin shirt, battling against the Autumn’s freezing air. The night swallows him, a creature of the darkness melting into shadows. 

**✧**

Wonwoo isn’t actively trying to avoid his friends, he swears.

There’s just so much to do, now that the university semester has picked up its pace, so many students to help, so many people asking for this or that book, for this or that reference. 

It’s not his fault if all the times Soonyoung is around he has so many tasks to finish that he barely has time to say hello. It’s not his fault if he avoids the cafè - he’s not scared of meeting Mingyu, not at all, he just thinks tea is a luxury he can’t afford when work is piling up this way. 

He truly has his hands full, between the library and helping out Jeonghan at the hospital with some volunteer work - Jeonghan had offhandedly mentioned the fact that one of their nurses got injured, and what if Wonwoo jumped at the opportunity? He liked helping people! That’s why he worked at a library in the first place. 

Two weeks have passed since Jeonghan’s birthday party, and he’s managed to pretend he didn’t see any of Mingyu’s messages on his phone until they dwindled down to nothing. Soonyoung is more persistent, showing up in person at his workplace, but Wonwoo is able to find excuses not to stick around him too long. The persistence with which Soonyoung follows him around like he is his shadow fascinates Wonwoo, and scares him as well. There’s no way he’s going to be able to avoid him for much longer.

Either of them, because despite how strong he wants to pretend he is, Mingyu’s pleading, unanswered messages are cutting through him, stealing a good part of his blood - and there’s not much of it in him, anyway. 

It’s a Saturday night that finds him home alone, bundled up in a blanket as he mindlessly skips through TV channels. He avoids food programs, because they remind him of Mingyu, and every time he thinks of Mingyu he thinks of the confession, and then he thinks of the look on his face before leaving that bathroom, and then he’s spiralling out of control. 

The doorbell rings, and he’s on his feet before he can think better of it, opening the door to a very angry looking Soonyoung.

“Wonwoo,” the shorter man says, “It’s a pleasure to see you.” His voice doesn’t sound like he thinks this is a pleasurable experience at all. “Can I come in?”

Wonwoo considers his options, takes a look at the spot on the couch he just vacated and then at the stormy expression on Soonyoung’s face. He sighs.

“Sure.”

Leaving his shoes and his jacket at the door, Soonyoung pads in, his sock-clad feet sliding over the polished floor. In the semi-darkness of the living room he looks smaller, like he would fit perfectly against Wonwoo’s side if they got to sit together on the couch to watch a movie. Wonwoo shakes those thoughts away, focuses on the slanted curve of Soonyoung’s eyebrows.

“Are you done avoiding me?” Arms crossed over his chest, Soonyoung’s annoyance gets to Wonwoo’s senses in dense waves. 

There’s a lie ready at the tip of Wonwoo’s tongue; it’s there, almost tumbling off the tip of it, almost spilling out of his lips. Staring at Soonyoung’s face, he decides to swallow it down. 

“Sorry,” he says, because that’s all he has wanted to say for the past two weeks, even if Soonyoung isn’t the person he should be apologizing to. His frown grows deeper. 

“You’re not forgiven until you talk with Mingyu.” 

Another sigh as Wonwoo lets himself fall butt-first on the couch cushion, head in his head, elbows on his thighs. There’s so much he wants to say to Soonyoung, so many words he wants to put one after the other - he wishes he was as brave as Mingyu was, two weeks ago, in the bathroom just down the corridor. 

Soonyoung sits on the floor in front of him, legs crossed, back against the coffee table. 

“Will you talk with him?”

“I will, Soonie. I just need to put my thoughts in order.”

“What have you been doing for the past two weeks?!” Soonyoung sounds disbelieving, looking up at Wonwoo with his eyes wide and a little grimace on his face. 

“Thinking?” Wonwoo says, but it sounds like a question even to his own ears. What has he been doing? Mostly, filling his days from start to finish as _not_ to think. He’s also started sleeping, which he doesn’t need at all, but anything would be better than sitting with his own thoughts, and Jeonghan is very useful when Wonwoo asks for remedies against insomnia - the magic comes from a witch that lives in the building, a guy Wonwoo has seen in passing, that has always a cat trailing behind him wherever he goes. It works incredibly well. 

With a flicker of his forefinger against Wonwoo’s nose, Soonyoung recalls his attention. 

“If you’ve already thought, why aren’t you answering Mingyu’s messages? I know you like him.”

“You know?!”

At that, Soonyoung sits a bit straighter and takes a deep breath in, as if he is readying himself to say something very important. He opens his mouth once, then closes it, then opens it again. Wonwoo leaves him time to sort his words, because he knows what it means to be misunderstood and to be unable to communicate as he wants. The whole scene with Mingyu replays at the back of his mind, and he curses himself once again. _Idiot._

“Listen,” Soonyoung starts, combing his cherry red hair back with his fingers, clearly conflicted on what to say. “It’s time that I come clean.”

“What?”

“I know you have a crush on Mingyu, and I know you have one on me as well.”

Wonwoo gulps down his own spit, suddenly regretting having let Soonyoung in at all. A nervous chuckle makes its way past his lips, and he’s ready to play it off as a joke when Soonyoung puts his forefinger up, clearly silencing him before he can start speaking.

“Look at me.” Soonyoung says, his eyes never leaving Wonwoo’s. Even if he wanted, Wonwoo wouldn’t be able to move his gaze away. He takes in Soonyoung’s soft cheeks, his plump lips, the sharp edge of his jaw, the curve of his neck. The voyage brings him down the column of his throat and then up again, following the bridge of his nose and finding Soonyoung’s eyes once again, his hair falling down on it and casting hues of red over his irises.

Wait, what?

“Can you see it now?”

Wonwoo blinks once, twice. Soonyoung’s eyes stay red, his pupils blown wide and drowning in a crimson sea. To be sure, he cranes his neck forward, getting closer to Soonyoung’s face. At that, Soonyoung smiles, big and unabashed, two perfect rows of pearly whites appearing just below Wonwoo’s nose.

It happens just like he is living it in slow motion, the realization hitting him like a bucket of ice-cold water has been dumped over his head. 

Soonyoung’s teeth shine in the low light, pointy, far too many. 

“What the fuck!”

Fear curses through him as he scrambles away, almost climbing over the sofa’s backrest to get as far away from Soonyoung’s sharp mouth as possible. What the actual fuck. 

“Finally,” Soonyoung sighs, as if he was getting rid of a burden. In an instant, his teeth go back to normal but his eyes stay the same blood color, a halo to them that Wonwoo has never noticed before. “You’ve seen it. I’ve been waiting for you to put the pieces together.”

“Pieces?”

“Oh, I’ve left quite a few along the way.”

There’s that glint to Soonyoung’s gaze once again, the one Wonwoo’s seen plenty of times. Now he _truly_ sees it, he understands it. It was red, shining through the dark brown of his irises. It was red. How did he miss it?

“What are you?”

“Incubus in human terminology, I believe.” Soonyoung polishes his nails on the front of his shirt. “Sex demon in crude words.”

“Sex demon.”

“That’s what I said.”

“You’ve been one all this time?”

At that, Soonyoung lets out a loud snort, putting his chin on top of the couch cushion and looking up at Wonwoo, still standing on the sofa, still far away from where Soonyoung is perched. 

“Yeah, I’ve been one for many years. I wouldn’t be able to count them even if I wanted to.”

“You’re telling me all this time,” Wonwoo pauses, cocks his head to the side, “All this time you’ve been a supernatural being, and I’ve been making a fool out of myself by trying to hide I’m a vampire?”

Soonyoung’s smirk lights up his whole face, the pointy ends of his teeth showing up for a brief second before disappearing again. Wonwoo wonders how he does that, how exactly he managed to miss it all this time. Now that he’s aware of it, now that he knows what to look for, he can sense it in the air. It’s in the smell of his blood, and in the energy he radiates. It’s in the way he looks at Wonwoo like he wants to eat him alive.

Silence fills the room as Wonwoo assesses the situation, his hair standing on edge as Soonyoung looks at him placidly, the feral glitter still shining in his gaze. It makes Wonwoo want to do crazy things, like getting closer to put his lips over Soonyoung’s. Like succumb to his knees and let Soonyoung do _things_ to him, unspeakable ones.

“Stop it.” Wonwoo begs him, his voice coming out in a whisper. With a blink, Soonyoung’s eyes go back to their usual warm brown color, shining with barely concealed amusement and nothing else. 

“Can you see it now?”

It’s with a short nod of his head that he answers, words stuck in his throat. What is he supposed to do now, what is he supposed to say? 

“I don’t bite, I promise. No more than usual.” A wink from Soonyoung makes the air more breathable, cutting through the weird atmosphere that has enveloped them. This is still Soonyoung. This is the Soonyoung he’s grown to know in the past few months, this is the Soonyoung he’s halfway _in love with_. The realization hits him like a ton of bricks to the chest. 

It makes him deflate, the fight leaving him just like it had filled him, in an instant. He falls seated on the sofa once again, his legs on either side of Soonyoung, still perched on the edge of it.

“You lied to me,” Wonwoo accuses, but even to his own ears it sounds weak. It’s not like Soonyoung actively hid anything from him. The truth has been under his eyes all this time. Then, he finally sees the whole picture, slots filling with their rightful puzzle pieces. 

“Mingyu knows.”

“Of course Mingyu knows.” Soonyoung scoffs, like Wonwoo has just told him that water is wet. “He’s smelled me the first time we met, even in the midst of the chaos that was that club.”

The words Mingyu said to him that night ring inside Wonwoo’s mind. 

_“I didn't think you'd be into that.”_ He said, to which Wonwoo was ready to deny, to say he wasn’t into Soonyoung, but the emphasis was never on Wonwoo, it was on Soonyoung. It was on the fact that Soonyoung was a _demon_.

“Fuck,” Wonwoo spits out, “I’m so stupid.”

Soonyoung reaches out to cover Wonwoo’s knee with his palm, rubbing it for comfort, Wonwoo supposes. 

“Not your fault,” Soonyoung tells him, sounding reassuring. “You haven’t been a vampire for long. You don’t have Mingyu’s super nose.” 

There’s a little pause as Wonwoo contemplates his shortcomings and Soonyoung seems far too amused to continue his thought. Then, just to taunt Wonwoo: “It’s been quite entertaining. I made a bet with Chan to see how long you would take to figure it out. Kid’s lost, he said you would find out in two weeks.”

“More like two months.” Wonwoo sighs, still trying to wrap his head around whatever just happened. “What did you guys bet? Wait, is Chan a supernatural being as well?!”

“Nah, he's just a human boy. We bet his soul, if he won he’d get it back.”

“W-what?!”

Soonyoung shrugs, as if what he just said wasn’t that big of a deal. 

“It’s a long story, but it’s not mine to tell. You should ask him one day.” 

In an attempt not to add too much on his plate, Wonwoo decides to temporarily forget about Chan’s soul and its ownership. 

“So, sex demon.”

“Sex demon.” Soonyoung looks relaxed now, his eyes the usual brown color, his teeth all in the right shape and number inside his mouth. His cheek is squished against the sofa, his fingers still sharing warmth with Wonwoo’s knee. 

“How does that work?”

“Do you wanna try it out?”

It sounds like an innocent offer, like Soonyoung just asked him if he wants a cup of tea and not proof of his probably very dangerous powers. There must be something very wrong with Wonwoo, because he feels like a moth drawn to a flame, and he nods his head instead of scrambling away. The sharp smile is back on Soonyoung’s lips.

“I would love to,” gets out of Wonwoo’s mouth, words he doesn’t know from which place are coming. 

"You don't need to tell me twice," Soonyoung says, and Wonwoo wonders how exactly did he miss the red glint in Soonyoung's eyes all this time, how he didn't see the sharpness of the teeth in his mouth. There's something in him that screams _predator_ , and Wonwoo's survival instincts are clearly fucked up because he just wants Soonyoung to get closer.

The demon seems happy to oblige, standing up before sitting down again, this time in Wonwoo's lap, his knees on either side of his thighs. 

“I thought you’d want to sort things out with Mingyu first,” Soonyoung tells him, his voice a low rumble that makes a shiver run down Wonwoo’s spine, the kind of sound someone expects to hear inside a bedroom, door locked. 

“Should I?” Wonwoo asks, his hands moving on their own accord and ending up on the redhead's hips, clutching at the fabric of his black shirt. Soonyoung’s smile is wicked, his fingers trapping Wonwoo’s chin so their eyes are locked. The force he’s applying on Wonwoo’s jaw is minimal, he could escape if he wanted to. But there’s nowhere else he'd rather be.

“It’s too late now, I’m hungry.”

There’s enough time for a quick intake of breath before Soonyoung captures his lips in a kiss, breath that leaves Wonwoo’s lungs as soon as it’s inside. It feels like a race, an adrenaline rush that travels from Wonwoo’s mouth all the way to his fingertips, making him buzz with electricity. Soonyoung sucks on his bottom lip, bites on it, uses his tongue in ways that are clearly magical. 

One of Soonyoung’s hands clutches at Wonwoo’s hair, and soon enough he’s leaving a trail of lovebites down the column of his neck. There’s a little bit of irony in the picture of someone else biting at his jugular, but it’s lost in the midst of whimpers coming out of his mouth every time Soonyoung travels a little lower. 

“You made me wait so fucking much, I thought I was going to starve,” he says against Wonwoo’s collarbone, tugging at his sweater to expose it and suck a bruise over it. “I mean, Mingyu did his best.”

A pause, Soonyoung puts some space between them and waits for the words to register inside Wonwoo’s brain.

“What?” He eloquently demands, staring at the demon’s wicked smirk and wishing those lips were still on his skin. Then, it finally hits him. “Wait, what?”

Chuckling, Soonyoung scoots a little farther away in Wonwoo’s lap, enough for them to look at each other without going cross-eyed. There must be a gigantic question mark sitting on Wonwoo’s face, because Soonyoung doesn’t need more prompting before elaborating. 

“He was very upset the night of the party,” he explains, his hands moving from Wonwoo’s head downwards, caressing his face before intertwining behind his neck, a fake pout curling his lips. “I hope you’re not mad. You know how whiny he gets when things don’t go his way.”

Wonwoo knows, the sound of Mingyu’s voice asking for something to eat or for Wonwoo’s attention clear at the back of his mind. He tries and fails to stop himself from imagining him asking for other things, all pouty and wide-eyed. 

Soonyoung all but squirms in his hold, excitement clear in his eyes, and he gets closer once again before licking his way inside Wonwoo’s mouth, stealing the answer straight from the source.

“Feels like you don’t mind,” he hums against his cheek, leaving a peck there before getting closer to his ear, “I guess next time we can ask you to join us.”

The image alone is too much for Wonwoo’s mind, and his body seems to respond on its own, his palms sliding lower, dragging Soonyoung forward, until there’s no more breathing space between them. It’s not like either of them need air, anyway. 

“Shut up,” Wonwoo tells him, because he’s lost the ability to form coherent thoughts at the moment. The fact that Soonyoung was probably waiting for this, that he’s been holding back from jumping his bones all this time just because he wanted Wonwoo to be on the same page as him is kind of arousing on its own. 

“Make me,” Soonyoung bites back, because he’s coming straight out of an erotic novel apparently, and Wonwoo’s last braincells fly out of the window as soon as he grinds down in his lap, the same wicked smile still curling his lips. Wonwoo is lucky that his moan is gulped down by Soonyoung’s lips, or he would be embarrassed by the volume of it. Instead, he puts his focus into kissing the demon, getting as close to him as their physical forms allow them. 

Soonyoung kisses like he speaks, teasing and biting, driving Wonwoo insane with want, making him hazy with the need to get more, to taste more, to feel more. There’s noise coming from the back of his throat, unrestrained and booming inside the room once Soonyoung’s lips aren’t on his anymore, occupied with the underside of his jaw. 

“I didn’t think vampires were able to bruise,” Soonyoung comments offendhandly, sucking yet another hickey over Wonwoo’s skin. It seems like he’s enjoying the drag, probably high on Wonwoo’s arousal. He comes back to Wonwoo’s mouth, but instead of properly kissing him, he just licks his bottom lip. 

“They’ll probably fade in no time,” Wonwoo replies, distracted by the shape of Soonyoung’s butt in his hands, sliding his palms inside his back pockets to get a better grip on it. 

“Still, they look nice.” 

“You know what else looks nice?” The vampire asks, nosing at Soonyoung’s neck and feeling his heartbeat on the tip of his tongue. It’s a sweet rhythm, a thump-thump-thump that gets him excited, and Wonwoo can’t stop himself from gently biting at the skin there, careful as not to let his fangs do any damage. 

“What,” Soonyoung’s voice falters a little for the first time, an itch in it when Wonwoo licks slowly over his pulse point. His hands anchor on Wonwoo’s shoulders, holding with maybe too much strength. Wonwoo doesn’t care.

“These pants of yours,” he states, moving his fingers along the seams of them, towards the front, “In particular, your thighs in them.” 

There’s the sound of Soonyoung’s laugh surrounding them as soon as the words are out, his head thrown back in amusement. 

“Bet they look even better naked,” he adds, and Soonyoung’s eyes get sharper, his focus back on track. 

“Why don’t you find out?” 

Wonwoo’s hands are on the button of his pants before he can speak another word, undoing it and dragging the zipper down. His underwear has tiger stripes on it.

“I literally have no words,” the vampire looks up and finds Soonyoung staring at him already, his tongue poking out from between his lips. There are definitely too many teeth in his mouth. “Then shut up and get me naked.”

Wonwoo is too happy to oblige, slowly dragging his jeans down while Soonyoung removes his shirt on his own. The ridiculous briefs stay on, but Wonwoo is too focused on Soonyoung’s newly exposed skin to even be mad about them. He drags his palm over Soonyoung’s thighs, marvelling at the muscles twitching below his touch, while the demon balances his hands on either side of his neck. The thrum of blood running through Soonyoung’s veins pulses against Wonwoo’s fingertips, a red cloud of sudden thirst enveloping his mind. He can feel the slosh of it, can hear every single heartbeat resounding inside Soonyoung’s rib cage. 

“You should remove some clothes, too,” Soonyoung suggests, but more than advice it sounds like an order. He helps Wonwoo in getting rid of his shirt, tugging it off with a satisfied sigh when he’s finally free to make his fingers roam over Wonwoo’s naked shoulders. 

“I’d say you’re hot as fuck, but the truth is that you’re as cold as a corpse,” he snorts, his nails tapping a rhythm against his collarbones. 

“Warm me up, then.”

In a matter of seconds, Soonyoung is kneeling between Wonwoo’s legs, his eyes glowing red while his fingers undo the knot keeping his sweatpants in place. The way he looks at Wonwoo is making him feel exposed, like he is a rabbit ready to be devoured by a bigger, faster predator. Like he is prey. 

A sigh escapes Wonwoo’s lips as soon as he’s freed from his pants and underwear, Soonyoung’s hands dragging them down in one swift motion before caressing all the way up to his thighs. He puts his cheek against Wonwoo’s naked thigh, looking up to make eye contact with him before puckering his lips and blowing some air over Wonwoo’s half-hard dick. 

Sure, Soonyoung’s face is soft and warm, making a delicious contrast with the temperature of Wonwoo’s skin, but the vampire is at the point of almost shaking in anticipation. Soonyoung seems to feel it, savours it by tracing patterns with his fingertips from Wonwoo’s knee all the way up, so close to where Wonwoo wants him, but never close enough. 

It’s a game for Soonyoung, riling Wonwoo up without really touching him, smiling sweetly every time a whimper comes out of his lips. The vampire throws his head back, stops looking into the red pools of want that are Soonyoung’s eyes.

“You’re insufferable.”

“I just know how to make things better,” Soonyoung replies, and finally takes Wonwoo’s length in his hand. A moan escapes Wonwoo’s throat, and Soonyoung chuckles before taking him in his mouth, the warmth so sudden and unexpected that Wonwoo’s legs jerk up.

Soonyoung clearly knows what he’s doing, stroking his fingers and hollowing his cheeks, sucking Wonwoo’s dick like his whole life depends on it. Which maybe isn’t completely false, because he seems to be feeding off Wonwoo’s arousal. All Wonwoo can do is put one of his hands in Soonyoung’s hair. When Wonwoo tugs at it the demon hums around his dick, and Wonwoo can feel his sanity escaping him, his brain melting through his ears while Soonyoung tries to devour him. 

“You’re so fucking handsome,” Soonyoung whipsers against his tip, his fist still tight around him, and Wonwoo would like to respond with a compliment, but all he can do is whine when Soonyoung licks his way down his length. “So, so handsome. I will wreck that pretty face of yours.” 

There’s nothing Wonwoo needs to say, because as far as Soonyoung is concerned, he considers himself already broken to the point of no return. 

Wonwoo can feel Soonyoung’s heartbeat through his palms on his skin, the sound of it making his mouth water, the warmth of his lips and tongue a delicious treat that keeps him centered and drives him insane at the same time. 

“My head is spinning,” Soonyoung murmurs at some point, letting Wonwoo’s dick out of his mouth with a wet pop and looking up at him through his lashes. His eyes are glowing, a blush high on his round cheeks, and he looks like he just drank a whole bottle of some alcoholic mixture. Wonwoo chuckles. 

“Come up,” he says, using the leverage he still has on Soonyoung’s hair to gently guide him upwards. They meet halfway, sharing a kiss that is all teeth and tongues, and soon enough Soonyoung is sitting again in Wonwoo’s lap, his ridiculous underwear still in place. Wonwoo takes his time to run his fingers through his red hair, to caress his cheekbones and wipe spit and precum from his bottom lip with his thumb. 

Soonyoung’s eyes are closed, the flush on his face making him look less dangerous, little moans coming out of his lips when Wonwoo grinds his cock against his ass. The vampire drags his fingertips down the column of his neck, getting to his pulsepoint and putting some pressure there, peppering his jaw with kisses at the same time. Wonwoo’s dick is impossibly hard, but all he can think about is biting on Soonyoung’s neck and savouring the taste of his blood on the tip of his tongue.

“You can dry me up a little bit, if you want,” Soonyoung suddenly says as if he just read Wonwoo’s mind, his eyelids fluttering open, the wicked smirk resurfacing on his mouth. Wonwoo pauses.

“What?” 

“It’s just fair, since I’m high on your arousal, you should get high on my blood.”

Jackpots sounds ring inside Wonwoo’s mind, and he chuckles before pressing his mouth against Soonyoung’s, tasting the inside of it until he feels satisfied with the desperate moans he’s emitting. Wonwoo’s hands move on Soonyoung’s back, all the way down to the hem of his briefs, while his lips leave Soonyoung’s to travel down his throat. 

“It will sting a little,” Wonwoo whispers against his skin, tugging at the elastic of Soonyoung’s underwear and making it smack back in place. “Hope you won’t mind.”

“Shut the fuck up and drink,” Soonyoung tugs at Wonwoo’s hair and guides his mouth to his jugular, moving his head to the side and granting him better access. Wonwoo’s hands slip inside his briefs and palm his ass while his fangs break the skin of his neck.

There’s a soft hiss coming from Soonyoung, and then the thickness of blood covers Wonwoo’s tongue. It’s different from the taste he’s used to, less sweet, less inviting, but he feels it like a punch to the stomach when he swallows it, his vision growing fuzzy as soon as he takes a gulp. 

Soonyoung’s fingers are around his dick once again, and Wonwoo moans loudly against his skin, his teeth sinking deeper into the demon. 

The hold on Wonwoo’s head grows stronger, Soonyoung’s whines resonating in the room and making Wonwoo crazy with want. The blood flowing inside Wonwoo’s mouth is hot, tastes bitter but with a sweet aftertaste that Wonwoo can’t quite place, its addicting consistency making it hard for him to focus on anything else but the way Soonyoung’s heartbeat feels on the tip of his tongue. Its effect is so strong it makes him dizzy, his head spinning as soon as he opens his eyes to lick along the two little holes in Soonyoung’s neck. 

The moment he looks up at Soonyoung’s red irises, his vision swims. Soonyoung laughs.

“You look like you just had an epiphany.”

Wonwoo shuts him up with a kiss, but Soonyoung has the upper hand now, quite literally since he still has his fingers around Wonwoo’s length, making him whimper helplessly and rut up in his palm. 

“Should we relocate to the bedroom?” Soonyoung whispers against his lips; Wonwoo doesn’t exactly remember moving but he’s already with his back against the mattress, soft covers against his skin being a sweet distraction. Soonyoung is on all fours, his elbows on either sides of Wonwoo’s face, his knees next to his hips. He seems to have lost his underwear somewhere, because when Wonwoo looks at him he’s completely naked, and he looks so good all Wonwoo can do is stare, open-mouthed and starry-eyed.

“I know, I have that effect on people,” the demon says, teasing, running the pad of his thumb over Wonwoo’s lips and staining it in what’s left of his own blood. Then, he brings it to his mouth and sucks on it, making a scene out of wiping it clean, his tongue coming out to lick it until there’s no more red on it. The growl that escapes Wonwoo is so low it rumbles inside his chest and against Soonyoung’s skin. 

“You’re really,” Wonwoo starts, but gets distracted when Soonyoung starts kissing his way down his body, his lips warm against his cool skin, a delicious contrast that feels almost painful. Maybe it’s the foreign blood in his system, but every time Soonyoung leaves a peck on his body he feels like he’s being set on fire. 

“What am I, Jeon?”

“Insufferable.”

Soonyoung laughs, the sound bouncing off the walls until other noises fill the room, noises that Soonyoung steals out of him with his hands, his lips, his tongue. 

All Wonwoo can think of, all he can focus on, all he can taste, feel, want is Soonyoung. 

**✧**

Wonwoo is nervous. There’s a cup of coffee sitting on the surface of the table in front of him, but he’s not taken a single sip of the beverage since the waiter brought it over five minutes ago, so caffeine isn’t the reason for the jittery feeling inside his chest - not that caffeine does much to him since he’s turned into a vampire. 

He raps a rhythm with his nails over the plastic surface, his eyes scanning the people passing on the street through the glass wall, his senses focused on trying to recognize two familiar faces in the midst of a constant stream of strangers. 

They’re already five minutes late, and Wonwoo is starting to feel like he’s going to vibrate out of his skin, the tips of his fingers growing colder and colder. He takes his mug in his hand, putting his lips on the rim, and then puts it down again. There’s no way his stomach is going to accept the coffee offer and be ok with it. Instead of drinking, he glares at the mug.

The bell above the door of the cafè chimes, and Wonwoo’s ears recognize immediately the loud laugh following that sound. Soonyoung. 

“...and then she said,” Soonyoung turns around and waves his gloved hands in the air, making paws with his fingers at the person entering behind him, “‘ _I’ll turn you into a tiger!’_ And I told her: ‘ _why not?’_ ”

Mingyu’s chuckle fills the air, the noise making Wonwoo sit straighter in his chair; he stares at the two, his eyes scanning their movements as they share quiet laughter and start to untie the scarves around their necks. Soonyoung is looking around, searching for him, so Wonwoo raises his hand in the air and gestures at him. When their gazes meet, there’s a satisfied smirk on top of Soonyoung’s lips. He turns around to take Mingyu’s hand and guides him towards Wonwoo’s table. 

“But hyung, there’s an empty booth right…” Mingyu trails off as soon as he spots Wonwoo, his eyes growing three sizes, the smile falling off his face. Dread fills Wonwoo’s entire being as he watches Mingyu’s expression changing from open delightment to wariness. It feels like a stab to the chest.

“Hey,” Soonyoung drags Mingyu over, pushing him to sit down in one of the two empty chairs, the one in front of Wonwoo, and then taking the spot to Wonwoo’s left, between the two of them. “We’re here! Sorry we’re late.”

“It’s fine, I wasn’t here for long.” Wonwoo replies, his eyes not leaving Mingyu’s face even though the werewolf isn’t meeting his gaze, staring at Wonwoo’s still full cup of coffee. His mouth is in a thin line, lips pressed together, and he’s clearly biting the inside of his cheek. 

“Mingyu-yah,” Soonyoung calls for the younger’s attention, who responds by raising his head a beat too late, “I’ll go get our drinks, ok?” 

A nod sends Soonyoung off to the other side of the cafè, towards the counter; Wonwoo watches him go, shaking his head in amusement at the skip in his steps as he makes his way through the room. 

“Hyung,” Mingyu’s voice drags Wonwoo’s eyes away from Soonyoung’s silly walk, “It’s nice to see you.”

His voice is so small, so unsure, and it makes Wonwoo feel like he deserves to be buried twenty meters below the ground for making him feel so uncertain, for the way Mingyu’s tongue quivers around the word ‘ _hyung_ ’. 

“It’s nice to see you too. It’s been far too long.”

“Not my fault.”

It’s a slip, Wonwoo realizes; Mingyu’s eyes go wide, his hands covering his lips. In a second he’s scrambling to explain himself, stumbling over his words.

“T-that isn’t,” he starts, but Wonwoo puts a hand up to silence him, a bitter smile on his mouth. Mingyu gulps down the rest of his sentence. 

“It’s ok, you’re right. You have plenty of reasons to be mad at me.”

“I’m not mad,” Mingyu counters, his voice small, his shoulders coming up to his ears, “I’m sad.”

Mingyu’s words feel like a steel sword through his bowel, or so Wonwoo imagines would be the sensation of a sword cutting through his lower abdomen. It’s terrible. 

“Let me start off by saying I’m sorry.”

A tiny shrug, Mingyu’s eyes moving over Wonwoo’s shoulder, probably to look at Soonyoung. 

“Not your fault that I got so upset over rejection.” Mingyu sounds sure, positive, like he’s made peace with the fact that Wonwoo doesn’t like him back. Like he’s certain of having unrequited feelings. 

“I never rejected you.” Wonwoo points out, finally reaching out for his cup. The coffee inside it is cold by now, but he needs to be doing something with his hands before he reaches over the table to drag Mingyu’s face closer and kiss the pout off his lips.

Talking first, kissing later.

Hopefully.

Mingyu moves in his seat, as if ready to bolt away. He seems to be sitting on his hands to stop himself from running out of the door. 

“Technically you didn’t, but you disappeared that night, and when I tried to contact you for the past two weeks you pretended you forgot how to read altogether.”

It’s a murmur, words that aren’t meant to hurt Wonwoo, just stating the truth. They do hurt him anyway, because he realizes how much of a dick he’s been to Mingyu, depriving him of closure and of his friendship as well.

“I’m sorry for that too,” Wonwoo tells him, trying to pour sincerity into his tone. “Let me explain?”

Another shrug of Mingyu’s shoulders.

“First of all, I never rejected you. I just wanted to make sure that whatever you were saying wasn’t coming from the alcohol in your body. I didn’t want you to regret what you said the following morning.”

At that, Mingyu rolls his eyes, as if the excuse Wonwoo is giving him is just that: an excuse.

“Wonwoo-hyung,” Mingyu starts, his gaze set in Wonwoo’s eyes. “I still like you like I liked you two weeks ago.”

That’s a relief. Wonwoo smiles. 

“I’m glad to hear that. Because I like you too.”

A soft blush spreads over Mingyu’s cheeks, his mouth falling open in silent surprise. 

“You do?” He asks, a whisper almost lost in the midst of the cafè’s background noise. Wonwoo nods once, his smile getting wider by the second.

Soonyoung appears in his seat at that moment, two cups in his hands that he gently puts on the table, sliding one towards Mingyu. Immediately, Mingyu’s fingers find the handle, lifting the mug to his face to take a quick sip. 

It must be scalding, but Mingyu doesn’t even flinch as the scorching liquid goes down his throat, his eyes still fixed on Wonwoo. 

“I’m sorry I made you wait two weeks to say it back, but I really, really like you. Same for Soonyoung, here. I like you both.”

A delighted giggle comes out of Soonyoung’s mouth, his hands clapping once before he reaches over to put them over Wonwoo’s face. 

“I’m so proud of you! Look at that! Feelings! Out in the open!”

Wonwoo grimaces, trying to get away from Soonyoung’s hold, but it has the opposite effect, Soonyoung scooting further in his seat to bring their faces closer together. 

“Aren’t you proud of yourself? So many emotions! So many words!”

“Stop teasing him, hyung.” Mingyu interjects, at which Soonyoung turns his head around to send him a dazzling grin, all of his teeth showing up. It makes a shiver run down Wonwoo’s spine, his face still trapped between Soonyoung’s palms. 

“Should I stop?”

“Yes, please. Let him go until we finish this conversation.” Mingyu’s happy expression makes _something_ move below Wonwoo’s sternum, something that seems to have wings and that is trying to escape through his windpipe. He swallows, hard, as Soonyoung’s hands release their hold on his cheeks and the demon sits back in his chair, pouting. 

“Fine,” he says, “But make it quick. I’m hungry.”

Soonyoung’s eyes flash red, the glint Wonwoo got used to in the last couple of days making a quick appearance. When Wonwoo’s focus ends up on Mingyu’s face again, he finds an expression there that he’s never seen before. It’s _dark_ , intense. Enticing. 

“I just want to be completely sure we’re all on the same page.” Mingyu takes another sip of his coffee, this time slower, savoring the taste of it in his mouth before gulping it down. “We are, right?”

“If the page contains the word _threesome_ then yes, we are.” Soonyoung smirks when Mingyu chokes on his coffee, sputtering and coughing, almost doubling over the table in his effort not to spit the beverage out of his nose. Soonyoung pats him over his shoulders, his face relaxed.

Wonwoo glares at him, but that doesn’t dim the wattage of his smile.

“What?” He says, sounding unbothered, “There’s three of us, you know? That’s what you call it when there are three people together! _Ménage-à-trois_ , if French is more of your thing.”

Mingyu coughs louder, sounding like he’s about to die.

“Soonyoung!” Wonwoo scolds him, but the demon doesn’t look perturbed by it, still stroking Mingyu’s back to make him stop wheezing. 

“What?”

“You’re a menace.” Mingyu affirms once he’s gained his breath back, tear tracks on his cheeks. He sniffles, coughs some more. “I almost died,” he whines, rubbing at his eyes to dry the wetness there. 

Soonyoung whispers something that Wonwoo can’t quite catch, his mind elsewhere entirely as he stares at the two of them as they confabulate, the demon’s teasing getting more and more lewd and making Mingyu’s ear go redder by the minute. A chuckle comes out of him at the sight, finding himself quite endeared by their antics. 

At some point Soonyoung reaches his hand out to tap his forefinger over Mingyu’s nose; the werewolf stops him, fingers circling his wrist and keeping him away from his face. 

There’s a shift in the air that Wonwoo feels in his bones, magic charging at him like a heatwave. He sees Mingyu’s pupils dilating, and even though he can’t see Soonyoung’s eyes with the way he’s turned towards the younger, he’s pretty sure his irises are the color of blood.

“Wanna go home?” Wonwoo murmurs, quite enough not to disturb the atmosphere and shatter the moment. There’s an imperceptible nod from Mingyu, one that makes the three of them stand up at the same time. They’re out of the door in no time, bill paid and half-full coffees forgotten on the table.

The charged air stays with them all the way from the cafè to Wonwoo’s apartment; once inside, they discover that they’re indeed all on the same page, and that said page is exactly the one Soonyoung was hoping for.

**✧**

Autumn sucks.

The cold seeps inside Wonwoo’s bones, freezing them and making him shiver in his coat despite the several layers he’s wearing below it, despite the scarf he’s wearing and the beanie Mingyu shoved over his head. 

As he huffs a breath out, he watches it as it dissolves in a white cloud of condensation. 

There are arms around his middle, making him wobble on his unsteady feet. 

“Mingyu!” He cries out, flaring his own arms out to avoid falling down on his butt - he doesn’t trust Mingyu’s sense of equilibrium that much anyway, the boy is a walking disaster. They sway in place while Wonwoo regains his footing on the slippery surface, his torso still enveloped in Mingyu’s tight embrace. 

There’s a twinkling laugh that Mingyu breathes inside the collar of Wonwoo’s coat, hot air warming up the skin of his neck that isn’t covered by the red and black checkered scarf that Soonyoung wrapped tightly around him and told him not to lose. 

Wonwoo isn’t a big fan of sports, aside from the gym training that he’s started to attend more often - not because of Mingyu’s presence, not at all, just because he wants to gain muscles, no ulterior motives - but he couldn’t say no to Mingyu when the younger asked him if for their Saturday night date they could go to an ice skating rink. 

Christmas lights are shining around them as they make their way around the ice rink, Mingyu’s arms still tight around Wonwoo. They move slowly, careful as not to topple and end up sprawled on the unforgiving surface below their blades.

“Why are the Christmas lights already up? It’s not even December,” Wonwoo laments, his voice just above a whisper, almost drowned out by the loud cheers of kids chasing each other and falling down in a flailing of limbs. Mingyu hears him anyway, be it because of his supernatural abilities or because their faces are so close together there’s no way he could miss Wonwoo’s words.

“Don’t be such a Grinch,” he murmurs in Wonwoo’s ear, “They make for a magical atmosphere.”

The younger is not wrong, the fairy lights around the rink bathe the scenery around them in a soft golden glow. Wonwoo turns his head around to catch the same glow in Mingyu’s gaze when their eyes meet. He presses a quick kiss on Mingyu’s lips and then escapes his hold, sprinting away, skating to the maximum speed he’s capable of. 

When he throws a quick glance over his shoulder, he sees Mingyu standing in the middle of the rink, his gloved fingers pressed to his mouth, over the point where Wonwoo left a peck. 

“Hyung!” The werewolf calls for him, moving in his trail, making grabby hands at him. Wonwoo evades him by making a u-turn and skating in the opposite direction. 

They chase each other for a while, until Wonwoo stops near the edge of the rink and throws a glance over it. Soonyoung is sitting on a bench there, placidly reading a book. His hair is jet black, and he’s wearing a tiger-striped scarf that covers half of his face. With a whistle Wonwoo calls for his attention, smiling at him when the demon raises his head from the pages he’s focused on.

“Hey stranger!” Soonyoung’s grin makes his eyes disappear into two crescent moons. “What are you reading?”

With a bit of a ruckus, Mingyu joins Wonwoo in leaning against the banister, not before slamming his whole body into it to stop his momentum, wheezing at the impact.

“Hyung! You’re here!”

“Hey guys, sorry I’m late!” Soonyoung closes the book, a familiar red string on a black cover telling Wonwoo what exactly Soonyoung is reading. With a chuckle, he points at where Soonyoung’s finger is trapped between the pages. 

“You’re reading _Eclipse_?” His words seem to get Mingyu’s attention as well, because the younger balances his hands over the railing to lean forward and take a closer look at the cover, his eyes focused. “You dream of us fighting over you?” 

Soonyoung scoffs, leaving the book on the bench and bending down, removing his boots to exchange them with a pair of ice skates. Wonwoo notices how the tip of his ears are slightly red, probably because of the cold - or maybe because of embarrassment, Wonwoo isn’t sure. Soon enough he’s on his feet, balancing on the blades. 

Wonwoo is just teasing, because they’ve talked plenty about their relationship and about their hopes, their fears, their needs. 

As of now there are no labels to what they are - if Mingyu wants to call both of them his boyfriends, who are they to stop him? But both Mingyu and Wonwoo are aware of Soonyoung’s nature, and of the fact that if Soonyoung was to feed only from them, both of them would end up being sucked out of their vital energies. They would become just empty shells, despite the fact that they’re stronger than the average human. Soonyoung is just too much to deal with, but they don’t mind. They make it work. 

When the demon slides inside the rink, he twirls around on his skates with an ease that leaves Wonwoo baffled.

“Were you an ice skater in one of your past lives?” he asks, shocked as Soonyoung easily skates backwards and leaps into a jump without looking behind his back, landing perfectly on just one foot. 

“Maybe,” Soonyoung replies cheekly, “or maybe I’m just old and have been on an ice rink more often than the two of you.” 

Mingyu almost falls on his face in an attempt to emulate Soonyoung’s effortless spin that follows his jump. With an arm around his waist, Soonyoung stops him from toppling over, guiding him in a waltz around the rink. Wonwoo watches them move, standing still with his back against the banister, fighting the smile that is threatening to break his face in half. 

The lights twinkle, and Wonwoo’s eyes can’t leave the pair that is still skating around. Soonyoung turns around, taking Mingyu’s hands in his and skating backwards, leading him at a speed he and Wonwoo have never reached before. Wonwoo thinks that he’s never seen two twin planets as mesmerizing as them, and that he will never be able to escape their combined gravitational pull. 

Soonyoung’s loud laugh gets to Wonwoo’s ears when Mingyu stumbles, his body crashing against the demon and making both of them fall on the ice. In a matter of seconds Wonwoo has skated by their side. 

Mingyu looks mortified, his eyes scanning Soonyoung to make sure he’s not hurt, but Soonyoung doesn’t seem worried in the least, lying against the iced ground, his black hair covered in tiny ice shards. His laugh is so loud a couple of kids stop their incessant running to take a peek at them. When they see it’s just three men being idiots, they go back to their games.

“Are you alright?” Wonwoo crouches down to comb his gloved fingers through Mingyus’ fringe, and the younger nods, sitting down on the ice to leave more space for Soonyoung to move around. The demon is still giggling like crazy, clutching his stomach. 

“Did you hit your head so hard you got a concussion?” Wonwoo asks him, to which Soonyoung just shakes his head, slowly sitting up and sending them a dazzling smile, putting his thumbs up to signal that he’s fine. 

“Sorry, Mingyu’s face when we went crashing to the ground was just hilarious.”

“I was afraid of crushing you!” Mingyu whines, bottom lip jutted out in a pout. Both Wonwoo and Soonyoung reach out at the same time to cup Mingyu’s face in their hands; they look at each other, each with a palm against Mingyu’s cheek, and Soonyoung starts laughing again, followed this time by Wonwoo as well. 

Mingyu pouts harder. Soonyoung chuckles some more. Wonwoo stares at them with fondness written all over his face, but he’s not afraid to let it show. 

It’s later, when they’ve left the ice rink and they’re sitting together around a table, sharing warm food and warm kisses, that Wonwoo realizes that yes, autumn sure sucks, but he doesn’t mind the cold so much anymore. He’s found people who warm up his days, no matter the season. 

**✧**

**Author's Note:**

> The blood drinking/sex scene starts more or less when Wonwoo says “Warm me up, then.” and ends with that paragraph, so if you don't feel like reading it you can totally skip it - Soonyoung and Wonwoo have sex and are high on each other's blood and sexual desire, and that's all you need to know basically askdansdl.  
> The terminal illness tag is there bc there are mentions of cancer that starts at "Do you want to live forever?" and end at "Soonyoung seems to agree with him," so if that's a topic you're uncomfortable with you can skip those lines. It's just a little backstory as of why Jeonghan turned Wonwoo into a vampire. 
> 
> End of the tw! Below some bits and pieces about the fic that are better read after you're done with it <3
> 
> A couple of things that didn't make the cut:  
> \- there was a scene at the beginning of the party where Jeonghan saw Soonyoung and asked Wonwoo if that was his birthday gift, which was supposed to be a bigger hint at Soonyoung not being human  
> \- Soonyoung's age isn't stated because he's a demon and in this universe demons just... exist. He's been around for a while.  
> \- Chan's soul ownership will be further discussed in another fic
> 
> You can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/starryhoch) or [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/slytherminie) :)


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